White Fangs and Flashing Knives
by NaturesStressBall
Summary: Izuku has been captured and needs to try to appease his captor if he wants to live, she just wants to make him perfect. (Himiko Toga has poor Deku in her clutches) Warning: Fic contains descriptions of torture, gore and general unpleasantness. Also this fic is set after they have recieved their provisional hero licenses so there may be spoilers as well.
1. Chapter 1: In her clutches

*Warnings: Descriptions of torture, ptsd and other unpleasantness, this is set shortly after the Internship arc, so spoiler warning as well*

 **As should be obvious I do not own the setting, locations, or characters of My Hero Academia**

Pain, that was the first feeling or at least the first registered one. He opened his eyes slowly, dark, the room was dark, he heard some semblance of movement. Something felt wrong though, literally felt wrong, he couldn't move his arms or legs. He panicked for a moment, trying to get his bearings, he turned his head and squinted, he was able to determine that he was bound, arms out and legs slightly spread, tied. He was clothed, that was something of a relief, his mind was scattered though. He focused calling on full cowl to free himself, and felt nothing. No surge of power, so energy moved through him, nothing. No, no, did he overexert his arm, did he manage to injure his right arm badly enough to completely paralyze it? Wait, no, he could seem to move his fingers, his fingers should be fine, but maybe he managed to damage his arm but not to the nerves in his fingers. Wait did the nerves matter, maybe he'd still feel his arm even if he couldn't move it.

Now he was more concerned, he tried to move, rotate his wrist, anything, his right arm unresponsive and a surge of pain went through it, it had been the more injured of his two arms before and now the pain seemed more raw. He could wiggle his fingers, form a fist. He couldn't move either arm or bend them but he could at least wriggle his fingers. He paused and thought, his mind was starting to work properly again. He remembered that he had been on patrol, and that he had heard Froppy…Asui-Chan contact him over coms for help. She was nearby and the call for backup made it sound urgent. When he arrived he saw her but no sign of anyone else or any kind of scuffle. He was confused and then she turned to look at him, not with the normal somewhat glassy flat stare the frog girl gave everyone but instead with a kind of glinting eager madness. It was more disturbing given how she normally looked but then she fired something at him and leapt at him, with more agility but far less distance than Froppy did normally.

It was at that moment that he knew who he was encountering, Himiko, her quirk let her take on the appearance of anyone whose blood she was able to consume and apparently she had managed to get access to Tsuyus. His mind suddenly snapped back to the present, Himiko was the one who captured him or at least helped imprison him. This left Izuki was a somewhat larger fear, he tried to turn his head to inspect his body, he didn't see any signs of deep injury, or anything that seemed to be draining his blood. But he couldn't be completely sure that he just wasn't aware or that it hadn't been done while he was unconscious. Muttering to himself as he tried to determine his situation. If the League of Villains had him he was likely going to be dead soon, though that idea seemed off.

He didn't see or hear anyone else in this room, his eyes were adjusting slowly and it was possible that no one else was there, but something told him that he wasn't in their custody. He was a target for death from Shigaraki, and at this point would have been killed or would have had guards on him. The fact that he couldn't seem to use his quirk worried him, but he wasn't seeing anything else that showed him as under guard. He couldn't even see any signs of a camera, squinting a bit as he tried to work himself free from his bindings, though only managing to cause a spike in pain. He hissed between clenched teeth, he had limited mobility in his right hand and arm, trying to move now was exceptionally painful. He suddenly heard a footsteps.

He tried to turn towards them but couldn't quite manage, he resolved he would meet whatever this threat was with a smile, and with courage. He knew that he might be able to stall for time or at least try to outlast long enough to make sure that he would be rescued. He would be missed soon enough and rescued. As the figure he heard moved closer he saw her, her blonde hair was unevenly cut, looking slightly frayed even as it was set into the pair of buns, her eyes staring at him with that intense interest, face slightly flushed as her catlike teeth glistened in a smile.

"Oh good, you finally woke up, I was worried we might not get to talk for a while longer." She grinned again as she looked him over, almost looking through him. He could swear he heard her breathing, almost sniffing at him. She pulled out a butterfly knife, marks of old blood on it, she started to cut as his costume, humming cheerfully as she examined him.

Izukus eyes focused on the blade, she hasn't started cutting into him yet but that seemed to be something coming soon. He began to think, trying to maintain his composure. Primarily he needed to make sure that he didn't panic. He couldn't use his quirk, so all he had was his mind here. He needed to try to stall her. He might be able to engage her, if he could get her to talk to him maybe she wouldn't..he let out a shout as she suddenly stabbed into his right arm, reopening a battle injury and twisting the blade.

"Mmm, there we go, isn't that much better. Pain is very important because it makes me know that you're real." Her golden eyes glistened with a mixture of twisted fascination and…he wasn't sure exactly what it was, maybe affection..maybe something deeper. Didn't Uraraka-chan mention that she was calling her and Tsuyu friends even as she tried to slice them apart? She smiled at him, he tried not to shudder, he was bound and at her mercy. He had a hope, if he could get her to talk to him maybe he could learn more, or at least get stabbed less, try to formulate a plan to get out.

"T..Toga-chan.." Before he could get another word out he noticed a sudden smile and blush, she actually looked down and giggled, a hand on the side of her face, the knife pulled from the wound as she smiled at him. His train of thought interrupted both by her reaction and the sheer strangeness of it.

"You remember me! How flattering, I knew you were the right choice, I knew it." She spun, that same cheerful rictus smile on her face.

'Right choice,' that was ominous. However she had stopped using her blade on him, at least for the moment. Keeping her engaged in conversation might keep her from carving him up, or at the very least might let him keep his focus away from feelings of sheer stark terror or the pain. He thought of closing his eyes to try to filter things but something told him that if he did she would decide to make sure she had his attention. Still..

"Toga-chan h…" she interrupted him again, her golden eyes strangely glazed as she smiled at him with a blush.

"Call me Himiko, Hi-Mi-Ko, after all we're so close already." Strangely enough Izuku almost felt the need to argue this. He debated it a moment and decided against it, a bit flushed despite himself as he continued.

"H..Himiko-chan then, why can't I use my quirk, what did you do to me?" He privately hoped that he hadn't told her something she didn't know but he doubted it. She was likely to know that his quirk enhanced his physical power, and she seemed to trust the strength of the bindings on him. Though that isn't quite a guarantee, he didn't think she knew his full strength, maybe this was just something that could hold someone that was really strong but not at the tier of All-Might. Or maybe it was something designed in general for people with super strength. Maybe..he forced himself to focus on her, at this point being distracted might mean missing something essential or worse .

She was tilting her head to the side, smiling again as she looked him over, seeming to inspect him, she suddenly poked at a spot on his left side, a semi-healed wound reopened as she twisted her finger in it, making him cry out again. "Yep, still there…hmmm I maybe shouldn't tell but you're bleeding so sweetly for me and you just look so cute when you cry. I guess I could share. I hit you with a quirk stopping dart. As long as it's buried in your skin your quirk can't work. It has to stay in so I can do my work."

"W..work?" Izuku was still wincing in pain, overactive tear ducts letting loose as she pokes at his injuries.

She smiled at him, this time with a deep blush as she licked her teeth again, leaning in close. Whispering breathily as she almost pressed herself against him, a look of intensity in her eyes, "I'm going to make you perfect Izuku, you're already so close but I'm going to make you perfect for me." She let out a little giggle again that might have been cute if not for the tinge of cheerful sadism in her voice and eyes.


	2. Chapter 2: So what do we do now?

_Hey everyone, sorry that this took longer than expected to be ready to post, I am going to try to be updating a bit faster. I also want to thank my beta reader who helped make sure this was more coherent._

Chapter 2:

Tsuyu had put the call in: Deku had missed his check in. She had tried to reach him twice more after the initial missed check in, but after hearing nothing, she became more concerned. She contacted Gunhead, the closest Pro Hero, and sent a message to Aizawa. Bakugo's capture a few months ago and other attacks had led to new rules being put in place. Upon receiving provisional licenses, they were instructed to keep patrol partners during the initial provisional period. There was too much ground to be covered for it to be practical to move in groups, so they were told to have regular check-ins every twenty minutes. Midoriya was extremely good about checking in on time; the only person likely better than that would be Iida. The fact that he hadn't checked in was worrying. It could have been a fight or something similar, but he usually mentioned if he was going to engage in anything just to make sure that whoever he was partnered with knew. She assumed the experience with the Hero Killer made him a bit more cautious.

However, the situation seemed to be even worse than they had feared or at least their reaction would imply that. It may have just been that after what happened before, they needed to make sure that everything possible was done to ensure that any student grabbed was recovered. The administration also wanted to stay ahead of the media; it would have to be announced eventually, but there was hope that it could be resolved beforehand. There were other messages flying between students as they heard about it. They remembered what happened to Bakugo, remembered his abduction from the summer compound, remembered that Izuku had organized a rescue team of his fellow students. Like the last time there was a push to work together to try to rescue Izuku, even more and even more enthusiastically than they were for Bakugo. This wasn't a surprise to some of them, Midoriya was preferred by many of them.

* * *

Toshinori paced. He hated the feeling of helplessness. He had been the Symbol of Peace for years, had been able to protect others. And now…now he paced helpless, unable to do anything other than think and worry. His protégé had been captured, he assumed by the league of villains. He looked out the window, clenching his fists, and he was able to summon up a dying ember of One For All. Just as quickly, it guttered out, returning him to his scrawnier form.

* * *

Tsuyu stared forward, not speaking just croaking. Her gaze was the same slightly flat glassy look it always was. Her face looked equally impassive, though to those that knew her well they would see a slightly downcast look to her lips and might be able to hear a slightly angry and sad inflection to her croaks. Her fault. She'd found out that the distress call came from the area she was patrolling, and whoever did it apparently managed to mimic her voice and mannerisms. Using her voice had been bad enough, but it felt even worse when this had happened where she was supposed to be, where she had been patrolling. She should have been there to help him, should have been able to come to his aid or have noticed whatever they were doing beforehand.

They had managed to evade her, hide from her. And because of that a classmate, a fellow hero and friend, had been abducted and was in danger. She thought back to when she had told her classmates that rescuing Bakugo the way they had was no different than what the villains would do. Those words echoed in her mind again and the same guilt that came afterwards threatened to swallow her whole.

* * *

"That isn't going to help anything. Right now, we need to determine what happened to Midoriya and more importantly we need to determine how to recover him." Nezu sat, appearing like a stuffed animal, yet he was still able to somehow keep from being viewed as comical. He looked over the notes taken by police and pro heroes that had arrived on scene.

"My main concern here is that we need to determine if this is a capture with the intent of turning him as they did with young Bakugo, if we are looking at something akin to a hostage situation, or if they are intending to simply kill young Midoriya."

* * *

"Why would they want to kill him?" Iida was pacing manically. His arms were flailing somewhat wildly as he seemed to ponder his own words. It was a horrid idea to contemplate, someone wanting his friend dead, and it was harder still to think of it in such a raw way especially as it brought memories of what happened to his brother to the forefront.

Todoroki spoke up his voice calm, "He was the impetus behind our attempt to rescue Bakugo from the League of Villains. They may have come to view him as a potential threat that they wanted to remove."

Uramaki shook her head, her normally cheerful demeanor now far more staid, "Really I think it might be more their leader, Shigaraki, that creepy hand guy. I was there when he tried to corner Deku before the summer training camp. He said he would kill him next time." She sounded more and more concerned as she spoke, admitting to herself the situation that Deku could be in.

Bakugo finally spoke up, sounding almost irritated "If they wanted him dead we would have found his corpse. They didn't want to kill him or he would be dead already and we'd know it." The others turned to him looking a bit shocked. He sighed, looking at the surprised expressions like they belonged to idiots.

"Think about it. There wasn't any blood, any pieces of torn costume, any sign of ANYTHING. So either Deku was grabbed immediately and they managed to move him or they got him to come with them peacefully. Either way they set up an ambush that took him. If they could do that then they could also kill him just as fast, so they didn't want to kill him, so quit crying about that and worry about something relevant."

* * *

Toshinori stared, horrified that Nezu would say it so baldly, but it seemed to push the other pro heroes to focus more completely on the situation at hand. Snipe was actually the first one to break the uneasy quiet. "I don't think this is to kill him. Frankly if that was their goal, they would have just killed him and left the body. Or left the body and called the media to give us another black eye and show the public we can't protect our students."

Power Loader spoke up, "The problem is that this was fairly well organized. We were able to determine that someone broke into our communications system with a fairly specialized device. Two other 1-A students helped verify, the device was highly specialized and would take some resources to make. This means that he was most likely a direct target either as Izuku Midoriya or as Deku, the real question here is why."

* * *

Kaminari sighed, "Power loader basically made me go over EVERY…SINGLE..SIGNAL in the area over the last hour. I found three pirate radio stations, one guy trying to disrupt delivery drones, and after a LOT of work and boosting finally managed to find the signal."

Jirou spoke up then, "And I went over the sound, Jamming-wheey here managed to replay it after a few tries and I did sound comparison. And…the inflections were a bit less calm than usual but it sounded just like Tsuyu and she was calling for backup saying she was under attack. Power loader had us work with Mei to figure out what would be needed for all that, and even assuming whoever did it had a relevant quirk, that still would take a lot of specialized expensive gear." Kaminari muttered at the mocking nickname but decided it wasn't the time.

A few people looking at Bakugo would have noticed that suddenly he seemed far more focused. He wasn't paying attention to any of them but something seemed to suddenly have his attention and focus. In his mind he had had a revelation, he realized a very real reason that Deku would have been taken. By now he had realized that Izuku had told him the truth about inheriting his quirk from All Might. All Might who had burned the last embers of his power rescuing Bakugo from the League of Villains just a few months ago.

The league of villains may have known the truth as well, and if they did then they might have had other plans for Deku. They might have wanted to try to strongarm him into handing over the power of the symbol of peace. Deku being a damn idiot who got himself captured wasn't the real issue or problem. It was the fact that All Mights power and legacy could end up far worse than lost. He had sworn that he wouldn't tell anyone what he had discovered, and even if he was willing to break that oath trying to explain all of it to these idiots would take too long and he'd have to keep backtracking. No, he had to figure out a way for it to be dealth with.

* * *

Snipe looked up, "We know that the head of the League of Villains has a hate-on for All-Might, and he probably worked out that the kid is his protégé, so that might be why, that would make the most sense. Maybe their goal is to set him up like a hostage…" He didn't complete the thought before

Toshinori intervened, "If that's what they want then I'll willingly trade myself for young Midoriya." And at that moment Eraserhead slapped him on the back of the head.

"Please quit being stupid. For one thing we don't actually know if they have him, for another, we know they have a shapeshifter, the Izuku we get is probably not the real one. And we're not going to give them the victory of being able to say that they killed All Might once and for all. Besides, we're spinning our wheels here. It might be useful to know why they took him but I think we can agree that it wasn't to kill him. We also need to remember that we don't know it was the League. It could have been some independent or other criminal group looking to join them and plan to use him as a sort of resume. We can't assume that they have him, we need to focus on finding him and avoid making unwarranted assumptions."

Midnight sighed, "Speaking of assumptions, what do we do about class 1-A?"

* * *

"We're going to get him right?" Kirishima said it matter-of-factly, as if there was no question whatsoever. There had been some rumblings of discontent or unease when last time they had discussed rescuing a classmate, Bakugo. This time however while there was some minor hesitation everyone in 1-A seemed willing. Maybe it was because of the success at rescuing Bakugo, maybe it was because most of them had their provisional licenses but either way theywere far more willing to be active and try to recover their friend and classmate.

Bakugo suddenly spoke up, "Someone should check on his mom…" That got him more than a few strange looks. He didn't have a way to explain it easily as to why, but he had also made a promise. He thought he might be able to appeal to sympathy from Uraraka or one of the more emotionally linked ones. Fortunately apparently he managed to trigger a lightbulb in someone else.

"That would actually make sense. Maybe they were able to grab him by taking his mother hostage. From what I understand is her quirk isn't that powerful, and if they had her they would probably be able to convince him to come quietly. And if nothing else it might be worth checking anyway just to make sure she's secure." Momo looked contemplative as she said it, possibly trying to determine if there might be other reasons. Others began to agree, acting like the idea of to go check on her was Yoayorozus idea the whole time. Bakugo felt irritated but decided at this point it wasn't worth bringing up, and he didn't want to have to explain why he mentioned it. Shitty fucking Deku getting captured.

Iida spoke with strong conviction, "Before we start planning to do anything we actually should check with the teachers and other pro heroes. Like it or not we are still students and we want to avoid getting in their way. Not to mention the fact that we want to avoid duplicating when we should be working with them to find our friend. And if they refuse to allow us, then..:

Todoroki spoke simply, "Then we work around them."

* * *

Aizawa sighed, "If you forbid them from trying to help him they won't listen. There are close bonds, but in a more practical sense almost all of them have provisional hero licenses, we can't stop them from trying to look for him while on patrol. And frankly it would be exceptionally irrational to try. If this is the first step of a bigger attack the students would be targets, we're better off trying to have them in groups supervised by a pro hero, it lessens the risk of another ambush as well as keeping them directed in ways that won't impede us. Though if you want to threaten them with expulsion then you can but then it means that I will probably be expelling all of class 1-A. I'm not unwilling to do it, but I want to make sure that you are."

Nezu sighed. "Well, then we seem to have our work cut out for us with quite a bit to do, at this point we might be better off speaking with the students, and be willing to listen, they may have some useful ideas. Also, Toshinori, I need to speak with you privately once the others leave."


	3. Chapter 3: Smiles and Scars

The cold sting of metal pierced his skin, shallow, possibly accidental. Her blade was cutting methodically through his costume first, either the blade had slipped or she was a believer in doing two things at once. He heard the unmistakable sounds of the fabric of his costume tearing, he also felt cold flashes as his skin was exposed. His skin having apparently marinated in either blood or sweat and suddenly being exposed to open air. It might have been irrational to be bothered by the fact that he was slowly being stripped naked when he was at risk for being potentially stabbed to death and yet he felt more embarrassment than fear as he is costume was cut away. He was more concerned at her expression when she heard him reacting to pain, her smile shifted from a sort of odd empty cheer to something deeper, and somehow more disturbing. He didn't know what to do but he had to try to keep her busy with something that wasn't cutting him up.

The blade kept moving and at the sound of a clink of metal against something neither cloth nor flesh her expression temporarily shifted from that almost dreamy smile to an odd mix of curiosity and irritation. She gave an odd look of consternation, "Izuku-kun, what are you hiding in there? Armor? That wouln't be very nice trying to to do that, keeping me from my work.." taking the blade Himiko probed his left arm in similar places and only got winces of pain and fresh tears from Izuku. Her mood seemed to improve a bit though it also caused her to look at his right arm with more curiosity. She cut away more at the costume and started to peel, working diligently. Though she didn't loosen the restraints which somewhat slowed her and caused increased discomfort for Izuku.

He knew what was there, and the fact that she seemed to be so intent on using a blade there was not helping his mental faculties whatsoever. The brace, he had had to use his power beyond the proper limit when he was trying to rescue Kouta. And doing it had practically disintegrated that arm, as it was Recovery girl had said she wouldn't heal him again period after what he did. Not to mention the sobering information that if his arm was injured again in such a fashion he had a very good chance of it simply not working anymore. Himikos knife going anywhere near his right arm had him afraid, not just of pain but that if she got him in the right places he might lose the ability to use that arm. Depending on what she was intending to do to make him perfect he might even lose the arm as a whole. That thought caused him to start sweating more profusely, he also realized somewhat belatedly that he had been able to drift off to think without her trying to stab or prod him to keep his attention, apparently she was a lot more engrossed than she had been before, though he couldn't find a way to take advantage. He forced himself to start thinking, he had to try to come up with something, especially when he may have a window with her being distracted.

Once she had peeled the part of his costume covering his right arm she stared, at first looking a bit relieved then her face took on a more eager cast. Almost lascivious as she inspected his arm, she actually cooed as she traced her finger over it, her face flushed and breathing heavier. She seemed less violent but Izuku decided that this was far more disturbing. She started running her fingers over his arm, scarred from multiple surgeries and bone resettings, his hand was partially mangled and gnarled. It was something he would carry for the rest of his life which was starting to look increasingly short. Himiko instead started caressing the lines of scars, looking at them with undisguised fascination, her face flushed red as she stared at them almost lovingly if such a word would match the look in her eyes.

"I thought I saw a little bit when I noticed you the first time but I never realized…Oh this is so incredible." Izuku was increasingly unnerved but he saw a possible opening, she seemed interested, creepily interested, in the injuries. He might be able to keep her focused and distracted on that, which in turn would probably give him enough time or information to figure out a way out of here. He involuntarily shivered, both from her ministrations and from the blast of cold air that his his exposed arm, soaked in sweat and some blood from her probing blade and previous injuries.

He cleared his throat, "To-Himiko-san, w..would you like to know where the scars came from?"

She looked at him, and he could swear she looked lovesick, she actually partially climbed onto him, practically pressing herself against him, her butterfly knife put away as she leaned in very close, her golden eyes focused on him with a happy and sadistic smile, her voice breathy.""I would really enjoy that Izuku-kun. I never imagined that part of you would already be so nearly close to perfection, I would love to know how it happened."

He began to wonder if he had somehow put himself into a worse situation. It also didn't help that his body and mind were freaking out at a girl being in this close of a proximity to him, and not all of his bodies reactions to the situation were especially helpful or reasonable. Instead he forced himself to smile as he spoke, at this point trying to back out of it wouldn't help, though he would probably be both less unnerved and more able to focus if the crazy girl with cat teeth was not so intimately close…why did his brain use the word intimate?

"H..Himiko-san could you please maybe sit down y..you're a little distracting when you're that close to me like this." He tried to force a smile as he said it instead of fear or unease with her closeness both for fear of her attacking him again but also his unease at how…close she seemed to be trying to get. He didn't like her touching him, really didn't like her pressing against him or the look in her eyes as she did, he also didn't appreciate his body seeming to give him two sets of signals in regards to its opinion on the matter.

Toga looked initially somewhat miffed, then she smirked, "Really Izu-kun? I distract you? Why? Is it my pretty face, my shining smile, or how prettily I can cut you up?" She giggled madly and smiled, a flush on her face as she ran a finger over his scars again. He wanted to turn his head away from her but if he angered her she might start cutting again, no, he needed to try to keep her focused on listening to him instead of carving him. His mind was racing and starting to panic.

"Izu-kun, you're muttering." She said it in a singsong voice and leaned in, he flinched as she pressed herself against him, her face nearly touching his. He couldn't move his body, could barely move his head. Her eyes seeming to bore into his. Her hot breath was against his face, and it had a rather disturbing mixture of peppermint and a coppery tang that he wasn't sure he wanted to identify. He was shivering, she seemed to smirk again, her expression seemed to shift again and Izuku was quite certain he didn't enjoy it. He took a deep breath and managed to screw up his courage enough to speak.

"P..please Himiko-san. I..I need to make sure I can concentrate and right now you're very distracting being this close. I'm sure you want to hear the stories properly, you wouldn't want me to forget anything important or misspeak right?" He sweated nervously as he said it but hoped that she would be willing to do what he asked, hoping that this might buy enough time for someone to find them. Or at least buy him enough time to come up with a better plan than trying to just stall her out.

Himiko pondered for a few moments, then pouted, but she nodded. Almost skipping over to a chair and went to sit on it. She looked at him expectantly still playing with her knife but it seemed to be more out of reflex than out of current intent to use it on him. A smile on her face as she looked at him so intently, he decided that he didn't want to know what she was thinking as she smiled.

He took a deep breath and continued, "The first ones, the lasting ones I guess you might have seen if you watched the sports festival. I..I didn't have as strong a control over my quirk then as I do now. And there was almost no way for me to use my abilities without breaking my limbs." As he said that he could swear her smile only got wider, he took a breath and looked up, trying to look like he was gathering his thoughts. He was but he was also starting to take an inventory of the room, he needed to figure out what kind of place he was in and what he might be able to get into his hands. He still had to try to escape, though it was looking less likely he might be able to find something that could help.

"Most of the scars, the injuries came from my fight with..my classmate whose quick allowed him to manipulate both fire and ice, though he only ever really seemed to use the ice half." He kept some discipline, Todorokis name may have been shared during the broadcast or she may have it from other paths but he wasn't going to give her anything that she might be able to use against the others if he could help it.

"He only used part of his quirk, and the reason was because of..certain problems in the past. I kept using my quirk to push back against him and try to force him to use his quirk at its full potential. It worked..though it ended up destroying the arena and doing quite a bit of damage to my arm. The damage you see on my hand, the scarring and broken bones are mostly from that. AS well as some of the other odd twists and scars you see running up the side." Ok, a few useful things, one is that he hadn't been imagining things the room he was in was large and cold, not like a freezer but colder than would seem reasonable. It might have been for Togas benefit but she was in a sweater and he thought he saw her sort of hunch in on herself a couple of times, meaning that the room is this cold for a reason, and the reason isn't for her comfort. Also he noticed what looked like large drawers built into the walls, though he wasn't fully sure what was behind them he now had a clearer idea. The fact that his eyes had adjusted better to the dark was also incredibly helpful.

She still seemed interested too, her eyes glinting with as she watched him, he still wasn't fully sure why this was so intriguing to her but it kept her from trying to cut him up and he remembered that it was always important to try to distract the villain if you needed to find a way to escape them. He cleared his throat, "For the second one, well I guess you were technically there for that. You saw the aftermath." He still remembered that night, the chaos the fear, the pain, not to mention his worry for Kacchan and for Kouta, the fact that he saved Kouta was still the silver lining of that whole event. He noticed Himiko looked a lot more intent now, her hands on her blushing cheeks with an eager, almost hungry smile.

"One of the villains that came with you, big with incredible strength and missing an eye, Muscular. He found a small child and was intent on hilling him. I couldn't let that happen and your friend didn't take no for an answer. I tried to throw myself between him and the boy, and ended up having to use my power to a nearly overwhelming degree. Hence my damaged arm and legs." He didn't tell her how badly the arm had been injured, there was no reason to give Himiko any information against him.

Himiko actually spoke then, "I remember him, Dabi didn't like him very much. Too impatient, he said that he was childish and foolish. And apparently that was right, it was too bad though, I bet his blood might have been very interesting." Izuku swallowed, not wanting to think about those words because they would make him consider his own situation in new and horrifying ways. He faltered as he suddenly did, forcing himself to keep speaking as he kept stealing glances around the room.

"But I had to go beyond my normal degree of strength and I managed to badly injure the arm." He left out the fact that any new injuries could paralyze it. He knew she might be able to infer that idea from the brace and the stiffness and damage to the arm. However he didn't want her knowing that, especially if she was going to be using her knife to probe his arm further, it wasn't impossible that she might try making the cuts needed to completely paralyze him.

Toga gave him an almost lovesick grin, a kind of warped fascination dancing behind her golden eyes as she smiled, her catlike teeth glittering. "So..all of those injuries, everything that happened to you, you did those to yourself?" Her tone was odd, there was a somewhat unnerving intensity in it but he couldn't be sure about the rest, it seemed like a mix of an almost sing-song tone with something else, something that made him feel disturbed, she sounded so weirdly cheerful even happy at the idea of his injuries being self-inflicted.

As he looked at her he felt sharp pain working in his guts. This was a bit of an embarrassing thing to have to ask her..but then a thought formed. "Toga-chan, could you please let me down..just long enough to..well use the bathroom?" He felt awkward asking the question and he wasn't sure if she would let him down but if she did he had an idea that might let him get out. He just needed a few minutes alone with some movement, he could dig out the quirk stopper dart and at that point he would be able to escape, or at least wouldn't be completely at Himikos mercy.

Himiko for her part seemed to be pondering it, her head tilted left and right as she thought about it, playing idly with her butterfly knife. She paused as the blade seemed to slip, leaving a gash on her finger, she looked down and started licking at it, enthusiastically sucking at the blood. She then spoke, "Hmm…sure I guess I would really hate to have to deal with the mess just keeping you locked up." Izuku wasn't sure if he should be relieved or worried that she almost didn't seem to care, that either meant that he couldn't escape or that she didn't seem to think of it as a possibility. She came over and undid his bindings, first torso, then legs, then arms, she paused to caress his right arm again.

She spoke in the same cheerful almost singsong voice as she helped him stand, "Just remember, Izuku-kun, I'm trusting you to be a good boy here. If you try to run away or lie to me I would feel very hurt and then I'd have to make sure to fix it so you can't lie about those things any more." She still smiled sweetly as she played with her blade, Izuku didn't bother to ask what she was threatening specifically, both because he didn't want to know and because he was motivated by genuine need. She had an arm on his shoulder and lead him towards what he assumed was the bathroom.

His gait was stiff and jerky, his legs were about as sore as his arms, he didn't know with certainty how long he had been restrained but he would guess over a day at this point. His limbs felt locked, leaden and sore, he was in pain but he had to move. Once he got to the door he opened it and went in, noticing something odd. For one thing the bathroom down here didn't have a lock, this may have been from Himikos adjustments or that way originally. It was also warmer in here than it was in the main area, that alone was welcome he could feel heat slowly flooding into his limbs. He closed his eyes to think. Alright, he would do what he came in to do, but he did have an escape plan. The area where Himiko had shown him being shot with a quirk stopping dart was still somewhat bleeding. If he could get his fingers into the wound he would be able to dig out the dart. It would hurt, but it would also hopefully after a few moments return One for All. At that point he would be able to at least try to get out. He would have an edge on both strength and speed, and even if he couldn't get out he assumed he'd be able to at least overpower Himiko.

He sighed, he was both grateful and frustrated that his left arm had been the one shot. On the one hand he was glad he wouldn't be digging around any further in his right arm. Himikos stabbings aside the right arm was heavily injured he would have been very afraid of exacerbating the already extensive damage to his right arm. That being said, his right hand was partially mangled, and his fine motor control was acceptable but some of the fingers were a bit..gnarled. Mostly he was afraid of being able to work them into a small wound properly, but he had no real options.

He felt and probed, he found it, a hole that was still somewhat oozing. He grit his teeth and closed his eyes, he was used to pain. He was used to pain, he had to keep telling himself this because this was going to hurt. He took a deep breath, wishing he had something to bite down on, jamming his fingers into the wound, forcing it open wider as he tried to work the fingers in to dig out the dart. He began breathing raggedly, trying to keep from screaming as he widened the wound. He just needed to dig it out, that was all. His face was wet with his tears and he felt in the wound, he wasn't sure how deep it is, he had never done this before.

He dug his fingers in, blood flowed only slightly slower than his tears as his fingers dug in, trying to find the dart that was keeping him from using his quirk. No, no, he couldn't find it, he had to reach deeper. How deep was it, he was already breathing harder and then suddenly his fingers hit a nerve, muscles contracted. Tried to stop the scream, tried and failed. He was frantic now and tried to force his leg to hold the door shut, tried and failed, he could barely move his legs, they were jerky and unsteady and his arms pain was making it too hard to focus.

The door was kicked in with an enraged looking Toga. It was odd but she was actually almost less scary than when she was smiling. She glared at him and grabbing him by the hair, slamming his head into the sink, she put her knife to his throat, he let out a pained whimper, barely able to think. She looked at his arm and let out an angry growl. She leaned in close, hot coppery breath on his face as she looked over him, pulling on him roughly. She wasn't strong but he was dazed, weak and sore.

"Izuku…why were you screaming in here? Why did you reinjure yourself? Don't you know that I'm the only one allowed to hurt you?! Don't you understand that I am the only one that is allowed to make you bleed? Maybe I wasn't being thorough enough, this time I promise to make sure to be very thorough if you seem to need to take matters into your own hands."

She dragged him back to his 'perch' and refastened his bindings, none too gently. He tried to struggle but the bite of the blade near his throat made him reconsider. He still couldn't call up his quirk, he was dazed, the world seemed weirdly out of focus as he looked down, muttering to himself.

"D..dart.."

Himiko kept working and she paused, looking at him and giggled, "Oohh, the dart! THAT must have been why you were doing that to your arm! Silly Izuku, I moved it. I didn't want to risk it getting knocked loose while I worked, you might have tried to escape before I could finish. Or you might have tried to crush my little throat, and then I wouldn't be able to finish." She smiled again before she paused. "Ohh, but your wound is oozing, that could make your blood go bad and give you an infection and that's too hard to match. We're going to need to fix it…oh I know."

She grabbed the metal faceguard from his costume, Izuku could barely move his head, the only thing keeping him from passing out completely was a mixture of fear, adrenaline and the vague knowledge that he needed to not let himself rest right now if he was concussed. He thought he smelled some kind of chemical and heard the sound of a fire of some sort. A few minutes later he saw Himiko using some sort of heavy leather gloves to hold his glowing facemask.

"There we go, now to cauterize the wound." She said in a peppy sing-song voice, pressing it to his cut he shrieked as blood and flesh boiled and sizzled, screaming as the wound was burned shut, tears flowing. She paused, considering something then walked around to his right side, running her finger up his arm and suddenly stabbing deeply with her knife and twisting. "Have to make sure you match…." As the blood began to flow out Izuku privately begged anyone or anything listening to save him or take him away from this. He couldn't fight, couldn't move, he tried to do what All Might had told him and keep a smile as this happened. That smile that was also burned onto his left arm and with another shriek of heated metal on his flesh the right side as well as his tears flowed and body convulsed as he cried out in pain.

She moved back and began working her blade into his left arm, carving down the side. He cried out in pain and tried to force himself free, to do anything as he sobbed. Himiko for her part hummed a tune from a familiar show as she started to carve and flay her way down his arm. Smiling as she leaned in, watching his blood bubble and ooze up from his wounds. He felt her breath against the injuries, heard her breathing, seeming to grow heavier as she worked.

He almost wished his mind would break, something, anything to free him from this. Instead he felt a new sensation, something small, wet…he forced himself to look and saw she was licking, even sucking at some of the injuries. She noticed him looking and smiled up at him, and what bothered him more was that this smile wasn't sadistic, it wasn't angry, it was…loving. She smiled at him and spoke giddily,

"Oh my Darling Izuku, I'm going to make all of you match, every scar, every drop of blood, every tattered scrap of flesh. You are going to be so wonderful!" She actually bit into his shoulder suddenly and began sucking. Izukus eyes bugged out as he tried to struggle but only managed to tear at his flesh, her bite grip was apparently very strong. What disturbed him more was the moan she gave out when she was doing this. He started to feel violated as this went on, trying to get her off him, get her away. She eventually stopped and slowly licked the blood from her face and teeth, smiling ecstatically at him.

"You taste almost as good as I imagined. We're going to have a lot of fun Izuku-kun, I promise."


	4. Chapter 4: Mothers Day

Just get to the apartment, that was all they had to do, just get to the house and they could confirm if she was there. If she was they move her to a safe location and everything is fine. If she wasn't... If she wasn't they call it in and try to work things out from there. The pairing for this was…less than ideal as well from a personnel standpoint but you used what you had.

Bakugo had managed to speak to Toshinori, he still viewed the man as All Might even if he was a shadow of his former self. Bakugo was able to mention the concern he had, that if Izuku was a prisoner they might have been wanting to use his mother as a hostage to make him hand over One for All. That led to him being sent with glasses to go get Inko. There was a teacher meant to be with them as well but they were following at a closer distance and Bakugo frankly hadn't cared enough to actually check.

The pairing wasn't ideal for either of them but it did make a certain amount of sense. If Inko was a targed then they needed to get there quickly so powers for movement and speed were reasonable. And Bakugo was actually from the area so him being able to know the lay of the land was very helpful. Also he was one of the better combatants, so if there were people here to grab her Bakugo was in a good position to help fight them off. Iida was again primarily speed but also he was a friend to Midorya and presumably Inko would be willing to listen to him whereas she might not trust Bakugo or one of the teachers as much.

They reached the apartment, Iida finally spoke directly to Bakugo. "It seems strange that we'd be going here. If Midorya was captured by use of his mother as a hostage when she would already have been taken. If not I am somewhat less sure why we would need to be here now other than to deliver news. But in that case you would be the worst possible choice and I might be better suited to trying to patrol. They also wound not have sent Aizawa-sensei with us instead probably using All Might."

Bakugo cut him off, "Dumbass, All Might can't really be All Might anymore, and if there was any villain activity there he'd end up a hostage. I know he had a connection with stupid Deku but we don't know that whoever got Deku isn't going to get her. I'm here because I'm from around here so I know where to go and how to get around, and you're fucking fast when you need to be."

As for Aizawa he wasn't completely sure on that since he wasn't told but he was guessing it was because whoever Aizawa couldn't neutralize the two of them could deal with one way or another. The other reason was that he was probably the most mobile of the pro-heroes that were available to check though that didn't occur to either of them.

Bakugo was fairly certain that Inko hadn't been grabbed, it may have been wishful thinking but there was some logic too. No matter how intimidating a villain could be someone would probably have called about suspicious people around the building. Not to mention the fact that he assumed that Inko had probably started stacking security systems on top of each other given that he had overheard Deku telling a few of the others that his mother almost didn't want him attending UA anymore. Odds were she'd be paranoid about anyone breaking in when he was home so she would have taken more precautions. Though maybe that would only have been for him, not her.

The apartments were getting closer, Bakugo tried not to think about the fact that he didn't live too far from here. He doubted his family were targets, besides that he was fairly certain his hag of a mother would scare off any villain that tried attacking. Once they got to the complex he went to the building, and ran up to the door. He knocked a few times with no answer. Door was double locked, and he couldn't see any lights on inside. He muttered to himself and was about to blow the door off its hinges when Iida grabbed him.

"Bakugo we can't just go breaking down the door! For one thing this property belongs to someone and besides that such actions are not befitting that of a hero! We should try to find the building manager and then request.."

"Listen glasses, we can't. For one thing that's going to take more time and we don't know if there's some fucker behind the door! Also the building manager here might not be in, might be lazy or a drunk. Besides that we don't have warrants and if they're a hardass they are going to want to know why, and one of the big things was they didn't want a bunch of people finding out. And I'm pretty sure if they or anyone else hear about it it's going to end up all over Japan in an hour or less!"

They probably would have kept on arguing when suddenly they heard the tumblers of the doors lock shifting and the knob turning. Both of them suddenly prepared for the chance of an attack as the knob turned and the door opened. And on the other side of it was an annoyed looking Eraserhead.

"The two of you are far too loud. If there was a villain on this side of the door they would not only know that you two were here but they also would have been able to prepare and execute an ambush on you as well as moving a hostage into a position that would have made them much harder to rescue. Before either of you ask the way I got in was jimmying a window. There doesn't seem to be any signs of a struggle or forced entry aside from what I did but the two of you know Midorya better than I do and you might notice something that I could have missed. So come in quickly and go over the area, don't disturb anything or move anything if you think you see something to investigate call me."

After some hesitation Iida followed Bakugo in, murmuring that this felt wrong as if they were trespassing. Going over the apartment there wasn't anything that stuck out as wrong. No half finished meals or food being left in the oven or left out as though she had been taken in the middle of doing something. He looked the rooms over, he noticed a few pictures of Izuku and his family, though his dad wasn't in too many of them. He also looked into Izukus room, more out of morbid curiosity than any feeling that there was anything useful there and aside from a somewhat disturbing level of All Might everything seemed fairly normal.

Aizawa looked at the two of them, "If you haven't seen anything that looks oddly out of place then either there was no invasion here or if there was they were capable enough to clean up any messes made. I'm going to head out to assist in the greater search, you two are going to remain here and contact us if she comes back or if anyone else shows up. And before you try to argue if either you leave your post without being called away by an emergency or one of us consider it an expellable offense."

With that he left them there, both of them rather awkwardly set to now stand guard in the apartment on the off chance anyone showed up. There was a somewhat long silence, Bakugo silently running through a series of curses he wanted to unleash as well as mentally fantasizing about destroying certain things in the house. Iida mentally preparing an explanation to Inko Midorya for why they were there as well as hoping that the others would find his friend. And both of them, though they wouldn't admit it, were worried about Izuku and where he might be now.

Aizawa had already started contacting other search groups that were trying to find Inko Midorya. He didn't think she had been abducted from home but if they had been able to grab Izuku they could have easily gotten her somewhere else. She probably had a routine but unfortunately the only person that might have known it was the person they knew had been grabbed. He could make a few guesses based off of some of the brands he saw and a few recipts that were in the kitchen, but that didn't help much. He called up a few police contacts he had, giving them descriptions and sending a few pictures of Inko saying that she was a person of interest. He needed her as a witness and asked if any had seen her recently or heard anything about her. Having them check CCTV cameras throughout the province.

Between his contacts and the student groups looking for her in other areas there had been a few possible sightings. Seeing her on trains or in crowds, but in each case it was fleeting. The fear that the Inko that was spotted being a shapeshifter using her as a mask was considered. Multiple heroes tried to recover the trail as did police. The fact that every attempt to call her went straight to voicemail managed to feel rather ominous as well.

* * *

Inko sighed to herself about the frustrations of the day she had had so far. There was a school break coming soon and she had been hoping to surprise her son with his favorite meal. He had been doing well, he had even managed to assuage at least some of her fears about the situation at UA. The problem was that she had run out of some of what she needed. She already was planning to go grocery shopping so she would just need to go on a somewhat larger trip.

She ended up having a few more annoyances throughout the day too. For one thing she ended up missing her stop on the train so she was further than she would have liked. It wasn't a disaster, just meant that she had to go further to find some of what she was looking for and probably shop at a few unfamiliar stores or take the train back, to her previous stop though given how long that would take she was probably better off doing at least some of her shopping here. She also made another realization a bit too late, when she checked the time she noticed that her phone was dying. That shouldn't have happened since she had left it plugged in charging the night before.

She realized that either her phone was malfunctioning or she was going to need to get a new charger and cable. At this point either was possible and admittedly while this area was more expensive it did have some kiosks that could look her phone over which was an improvement over not having the option. It did add more time to her shopping trip though fortunately for her she didn't have anywhere to be. She thought briefly about Izuku she still worried about him but she was glad he was in the dorms at UA if only because now she wouldn't have to worry about him worrying at home about her.

After a few kiosks two of which were staffed by people that managed to combine being both condescending and ignorant of her phone and one case of a clear scammer she did manage to find out that the problem must have been with the charger which did make some sense. It was older and it would at least be easier to replace than the phone. It was still an extra expense though.

She thought she might call her husband when she got back, assuming she didn't have any more surprises the time difference would mean that he should still be awake. She still thought it was kind of funny, most people imagined with a fire breathing quirk he'd be doing crime fighting or some form of welding. Instead he worked for an American branch of a major corporation. The US laws for quirk use were a lot more liberal and while he never had and never would apparently the idea of a fire breathing representative did wonders for negotiations. He had been proud of Izukus showing in the sports festival if also worried about him, the fact that his quirk had come but was so unstable had been a source of stress for both of them.

She sighed again, she must have been having a bit of empty nest anxiety. Her son hadn't moved out yet, he was just in the dormssh and admittedly that probably was a lot safer than him going from home to school though Inko loathed to admit it. She realized that she really must have been letting her mind wander in regards to her son because a few times she could have sworn she noticed one or two of his classmates while she was doing her shopping and later when she took a bus to get to a different shopping district. She knew it couldn't have been them, one of them maybe but this many especially at this hour seemed unlikely. No, far more likely they must have just looked very similar or her mind was so focused on her son that she was seeing more things that made her think of him.

Though as she was going she did start to feel a little unnerved. More than once she could swear that she was being watched or followed, she thought she saw certain shadows seem to move over her or thought she saw someone in a crowd trying to shadow her. It ended up making her abandon the rest of her shopping plans and practically run for the subway. Once she managed to get on the train she felt a little better. Though she had a fresh set of nerves when she saw police seemed to be randomly inspecting people and checking against cameras.

She wondered if maybe she had been getting followed, if there was some lunatic out there that was attacking people and maybe the police were making sure that this person wouldn't board the subway. She managed to get onto the train, she admitted that one advantage to being shorter was that she wasn't likely to get randomly stopped or noticed. She had thought about asking who or what the police were looking for though she realized that it would probably only make her more anxious if she knew. She reflected that maybe it was better that Izuku was at UA, he was actually safer than he likely would have been on the street shopping with her tonight.

Once she finally made it to her stop she took a somewhat more circuitous route home, it was less about not wanting to be at home yet and more the same feeling that someone might be watching or stalking her. She knew she would have to go out again to get the rest of her groceries later in the week though first she was going to check the news and fight out what had the police stopping people in the subway. When she opened the door she nearly dropped her bags, standing in her living room were Tenya Iida and Katsuke Bakugo both of whom were in their hero uniforms. She stared, the situation seemed unreal, she almost ran but instead put her things on the table and insistently (though more angrily in the case of Bakugo) asked them what they were doing in her home.

Iida cleared his throat, "Ms. Midorya I apologize on behalf of Bakugo and myself for this improper entry into your home. We are here because we had to check on your safety and because we need you to come with us. There is worrying news in regards to your son young Midorya,…Izuku…"

He couldn't get another word in over her tearful wail.


	5. Chapter 5: A Flash of Hope

Merry Christmas everyone, and for my gift to all of you ,have an update

Izuku felt like his mind had been forced into a bucket of ice. He was used to his mind wandering, it had been a defense mechanism of sorts in the past and it also was a side effect of him constantly trying to piece things together and understand the world around him. However right now he could barely think at all, maybe he had been drugged, or maybe it was just that the pain had managed to overwhelm his mind severely enough that he had to put most of his minds own processing to just either trying to wall off the pain or process it in a way that wouldn't cripple him.

Either way it was unpleasant. It felt like everything was in a fog and it was hard for him to focus. He had to believe he was going ot be resuced, had to believe that he was going to be recovered. Kacchan was recovered from the league of villains as a whole, they would be able to find him from being grabbed by just one person. That being said Himiko..no, she was Toga, he was not going to think of her by her terms they were not familiar or friends. He forced himself to drag his thoughts away from her, she had been dominating his thoughts heavily for the period he had been down here.

He didn't know why he was having a hard time focusing on anything that wasn't related to her. Though the largest reason may have been a combination of the human minds tendency to focus on what few things it had to provide any form of stimulus and simple self-preservation as she tended to become rather aggressive when she felt she wasn't being paid proper attention. As he tried to force her from his mind his eyes widened as he suddenly realized something that filled him with a sense of surprise and elation, she wasn't here. She had been working rather diligently on scarring his left arm to match the right but she wasn't here now.

Well, she wasn't here that he could see but he wouldn't underestimate her skills at stealth. Still, he had to think. He wasn't in any condition to try to escape but he might be able to at least form a plan. He forced himself to look over the room again, he had tries that before to varying degrees of success but for once she wasn't here and he might be able to allow himself to complete a thought and plan. He wondered for a few moments where she was, his best case assumption was getting food. Though darker thoughts began to cloud his mind and mood, imagining her hunting his friends or those close to him. He didn't think she had captured him on league orders, the things she was doing were too…personal. He hated applying that word to what she was doing to him, hated it almost as much as when his mind formed the word intimate for it.

He shook his head and nearly shouted but he kept himself quiet, he almost thought she might be hiding and he didn't want to somehow call her by shouting or speaking her name. Though he regretted shaking his head fairly quickly, feeling an odd sense of vertigo and pain as he did. He shut his eyes and focused, he had to get out of here and that meant making himself concentrate and focus on the situation at hand. First he had to look at the room and try to determine where he was. If he knew that he would have better odds of either escaping or at least being able to work out a way to try to inform someone else of his presence.

He could guess that she had taken the place over and couldn't control the temperature. If she liked it this could she wouldn't be hunching up as much as she was when she sat down, he also hoped she wouldn't keep trying to press against him as much as she did but that may have been a forlorn hope. He also knew that there were a lot of good sized drawers on the walls, he saw what looked like ceiling suspended scales and a few rolling trays with equipment. Most of them seemed to be Togas equipment however, varying blades and syringes so he wasn't sure if that was here originally or not. Also she had to have control over it since he doubted that something like this was being loaned to her and he didn't remember seeing anyone else down here though time was also becoming a very fluid concept to him. He also guessed he was in a basement, there was a staircase that led up to a door, that door was the only one he had been able to see in regard to this room aside from the bathroom. That door may be his salvation. The problem was that with him bound as he was that door may as well have been on the moon in terms of his ability to get at it.

He forced himself to stop that train of thought, he knew his situation was bad but dwelling on that part of it wasn't productive. He did what he had been doing before, mentally repeating the promises to himself of what he would do when he got away. It helped keep him grounded and give him hope, he would have a big bowl of his moms Katsudon after giving her a hug. He would give Kacchan that fight he had demanded from him. He would talk more to Shoto and try to help ease some of the pain he knew his friend carried. He would tell Ochako how he felt about her. That last one was the hardest one to admit even in the confines of his mind. But he would tell her, he knew she might reject him, would probably reject his feelings, but the idea that she might not that she might reciprocate…the thought of her chestnut hair and warm eyes were part of what kept him sane and hopeful during this.

With more hesitation and unwillingness, he ended these thoughts as well, they were far more pleasant but he also needed to not daydream at the moment. He made a few experimental attempts with his limbs and they were all bound as thoroughly as before. He also couldn't call on his quirk, he tried not to think about the possible loss of the quirk both in terms of what that would mean for his own survival as well as All Mights legacy. How long ago had she left and how long would she be gone? If he had only a little time he might just consider doing more observation and trying to rest up to prepare himself for the next set of cuts into his flesh and the extreme unpleasantness of her touch against him and the greater shame of his bodies reactions to some of it.

He didn't think she had told him anything that implied a meeting or some special plan, so his guess would have to be food. And unless she had something upstairs to let her cook, or something behind wherever he was placed in the room. He still kicked himself for not trying to get a better look around when she had allowed him to walk to the bathroom, now she was a lot more vigilant, she would still let him down to use the bathroom but she cuffed his wrist to the pipe under the sink and told him that if he disappointed her again she might get angry. Focus! Best case scenario is she's out getting food and got caught. Worst case scenario she might either be informing the league of villains about his capture or she might be going after other people. That thought worried him a lot more, of her trying to injure others, worse still she got enough of his blood that she could make it look like him which could also complicate the idea that he was captured and needed help or worse when he was discovered end up with him on the hook for crimes she committed. Though the idea that she might have gotten captured but refused to say where he was or was critically injured was also possible, which might mean he would starve to death or dehydrate down here. He couldn't see himself in a mirror but he doubted he looked good he could feel the congealed blood from her cuts and bites on his body and the grungy stickiness of terror sweat that he had no way to wash off. A shower, a long hot shower, that was another promise he added to his mental list, probably best to do that before he tried confessing his feelings at least…

His thoughts were interrupted by a sound at the door. He was worried that she had returned but instead it sounded more like someone was meddling with a lock. Wait, locked from this side, that was also useful information. But then bursting through the door was Uraraka. His eyes were wide when he saw her and his smile almost hurt his face with how wide it was. When she saw him she smiled too, "Izuku-kun!" She nearly ran down the stairs to him, the door left open.

Fear gripped him suddenly, "Uraraka-san, wait! Himiko, the girl who attacked you and Asui-chan during the summer training camp. She was the one that brought me here and she might still be here."

Uraraka paused for a moment, she seemed mostly undeterred, she ran towards him and looked at him, seeing his body covered in blood and grunge. His arms and to a lesser extent his chest a spiderweb of scars from Togas great work. She seemed to freeze for a moment when she saw his chest but immediately reached out caressing his arm seeing the damage she looked so sad and angry. "I can't believe she did this to you. I'm going to get you out of here, I'm going to make sure you're ok I'm going to fix it for you."

He was a bit surprised by how confident she was in this and her eyes seemed a bit sharper, but then again she did become a bit intimidating when she was focused on something. She was speaking to him but more to herself when she looked at the injuries. He could feel her hands over his arms, he wasn't sure how she was planning to get him free, especially as she moved behind him and began working with the locks on his bindings. He sighed quietly to himself, he tried to keep himself focused on her, her voice, anything that would keep his heart from pounding in fear and making him descend into panic.

As he heard a few clicks and pops his legs were freed and then his wrists were, finally his waist. He nearly fell fell forward, his body had been inert. He grunted, Uraraka helping him up, he felt her hands on him and he let out a sigh, "Everything is sore, I think most of my muscles are either damaged or stiff from being locked like that for so long."

His legs were both shaking as he tried to stand, everything felt like it was on fire. But he was able to move, he was going to finally make it out of here. Everything hurt, everything ached, but he would push through it, push past it. He had been afraid before, but his hopes were confirmed he was going to get out. Uraraka came and let him lean on her, helping him walk. Each step on the stairs was slow agony but he knew that soon he would be free and that helped him push past, but even more having her nearby. He remembered the promise to himself, and almost immediately his mind began to try to find a way to push it away, to put it off.

This wasn't the time or place, this was definitely not the time for him to risk delaying them getting out. What if she thought he was delirious or worse what if she just laughed in his face. He didn't think she would react that badly but.. He started to look for every excuse to stop and then all of a sudden it was like a dam burst in his mind. He needed to stop being so afraid, he needed to quit waiting for the perfect time to do something because there was never going to be a perfect time, it was always going to be wrong for one reason or another. But right now he had a chance to fulfill the promise he made to himself and he was going to do it!

"Uraraka-san…I need to tell you this. I..from the moment we first met when you stopped me from falling and helped reassure me to this moment..you always..you always inspired me. You always made me feel better and stronger. Your words helped turn a name meant to mock me into one I could draw strength from. I wasn't always sure how I could say it to you or when, I keep feeling anxious and right now a part of me is ready to panic and shut down but..I think I might be in love with you, I want to be with you and I want to be by your side and have you by mine. I don't…I don't know if you feel the same but I wanted to tell you because this made me realize I may never have the chance to tell you how I feel and you were what helped me survive this, you were what helped me endure..you.."

His words were interrupted by her turning to him and leaning in. Her eyes looked different than normal but there was also passion there a somewhat intimidating passion. He couldn't believe it, she seemed to feel the same way, she even wanted to kiss him! Their lips touched and something felt strange, she was very eager, a bit more than he thought she would be but maybe she missed. You He closed his eyes trying to enjoy it, and he noticed something else, something he couldn't quite recognize, an almost coppery taste. His eyes suddenly snapped open as he realized what it was that he may have tasted and he saw a smiling Himiko Toga standing in front of him with a gleaming smile and an elated expression.

"Hi Izuku-Kun! I mean I should almost be mad at you for trying to escape but that was soooo sweet! Hearing you confess to her like that and being so sincere and sweet and nervous was just intoxicating! I see why she likes you so much, and don't worry I promise to make sure she hears it from you when I go to see her. Also I am so proud of how I did, if you thought that I was her then clearly I must have done a really good job of becoming her! Thank you so much Izuku-kun I really appreciate the vote of confidence in me. But now you need to go back in your spot, we're not done yet Izuku."

It was at that moment that he passed out.


	6. Chapter 6: Almost Perfect

_Hey everyone, sorry this took so long, took longer than expected for me to get a new computer, also started a new job. Oh, by the way, for those who care pretty soon I am going to be revealing what kind of location he's being held at, curious to see if anyone has guessed where he's being held. Thanks again for reading this little bit of madness that I have created._

He knew better now, no help was coming, no one was going to rescue him from her. He was going to die in the room that his stupid brain couldn't even figure out what it was even though it should have been obvious. He would obey, and he was getting very good at obeying. He knew now that it was better for him to not fight, he looked forward with a smile, a smile that may have sometimes veered to rictus, but still. He needed to maintain the smile, needed to face this properly, no one was going to help him, no one was going to save him, all he could do now was to try to make the best of this.

He managed to keep himself from pulling away or screaming as loudly when she continued her work on him. was her canvas, she was smarter than he was, faster than he was. He should have known he couldn't beat her. No one could, she was too smart for that, she had planned too much. All that mattered was keeping her happy, when she was happy she didn't stab him as often. When she was happy the times that she stabbed him were only necessary and they were mostly clean quick slices not the jagged and twisting cuts that happened when he did something wrong and she needed to punish him. He knew she only stabbed him because he wasn't done yet, wasn't perfect yet, once he was perfect the stabbing would stop.

He just had to be good. If he was good then she would be happy and when he was good he wouldn't be punished. He knew how to be good, he knew how to behave correctly. He didn't try to pull away any more when the blades came near his skin, he didn't do much more than cry or twitch now when she did her work on him. He understood now that she was doing this for him too, that she was trying to make him perfect. He wasn't sure what perfect for her meant, though he knew that it kept him caked in blood with his nerves screaming in pain from the cold metal and hot gushes of blood.

He even managed to convince himself that he was starting to enjoy it when she would press herself against him while she cut into him. If nothing else it was warmth against his exposed skin, warmth that kept his teeth from chattering and body from shivering, making every cut ache worse than it had before. That it didn't make his skin crawl or make him want to scream. Her touch was fine, her touch meant that she wasn't stabbing him. Her touch meant that she was interested.

He had to keep her interested, if she wasn't interested she might leave. If she left then others could get hurt, others could be carved up. Others would have to allow Himiko to do this to them. As long as he was here, as long as he was alive and obedient, they were safe. Everyone was safe, because this was normal, this was fine. As long as he kept her focus on him, her interest on him, no one else could be hurt, no one else would be hurt by her. He was a useless brainless Deku but he could at least try to protect those he cared about. That's why it was good that she did this to him, good that she used her blades to bite her flesh and twist his form, because then it wasn't happening to anyone else. He knew that he deserved the pain and suffering that he was experiencing, he knew that it was only fair that this was happening to him. But others didn't deserve it, they didn't need it happening to them and if the way to protect them was to keep her focused on him then he would do it. He would never be a hero, but maybe even a worthless nothing like him could still do something.

Besides, he knew he deserved this. It was his own fault, he should have understood that he didn't deserve to be a hero. Kacchan had called him a quirkless worthless Deku and that's what he was. That was all he was, that was all he ever would be and all he ever deserved to be. He was too stupid to know when he had been tricked, too stupid twice. He didn't deserve to be a hero, didn't deserve to be All-Mights successor, didn't deserve Urarakas affection or even friendship, didn't deserve to live much longer. But being Himikos pain toy..that he deserved. He understood now, she helped him understand that, she never needed to say it because his mind recognized it, he understood now and he was even starting to agree.

Maybe if he was good she would reward him again, he…enjoyed that. Sometimes he really did, and sometimes he had been able to convince himself he did. Maybe if he did a good enough job he might stop screaming in his mind, maybe if he did a good enough job he would stop making her cut him.

* * *

Himiko smiled to herself, he was getting so close to perfect. He barely resisted her, now it did make it hard to be sure she could be him perfectly, but she trusted in her own abilities to work that out. It was so close to her best work, she had been able to put much more time into him and it was really showing. His body was tattered and cut, blood covered him and he smelled of it so sweetly. She paused to lick up some blood from a fresh wound, he barely even shivered from her doing it, and she could see his smile. Her darling Izuku was going to be so wonderful when she was finished with him.

He would be hers completely, shaped and molded to a true broken perfection. His body the ultimate canvas of blood and tattered flesh, a temple to mortality of the human body. The ultimate collection of flayed skin and torn flesh, body broken from the power and conviction within, the smell of his blood in the air, dominating all around it. It made her smile just thinking about it.

She did feel a little sad though that things were probably going to be coming to an end soon. After all, no one could be perfect forever and it would really be unfair if she brought him to perfection and then would let him fall from it. That would be cruel to him and worse still it would taint her memories of him and he didn't deserve that, not after he had become such a good boy recently.

Though it was nice that he was being so cooperative, she even found a few good ways to reward him. She knew his favorite and honestly she enjoyed it a bit too. She would take on the form of Ochako Uraraka and talk to him as her. She would let him tell her his fears, practice telling her what he wanted to. It was remarkably sweet and she had managed to learn all kinds of interesting things about both of them. It also made it much easier for her to practice being Ochako, after all when she was finished with Izuku she still had more to do.

She would miss him but then she had to talk to her lovely friend Ochako, she wasn't gong to break her promise to her darling Izuku. Even if he hadn't stopped being so rude and defiant what he had said was just too sweet to keep to herself. And she was going to make sure that she delivered it properly to her as Izuku, after all she loved love stories so much and even if she had ultimately won, well she wouldn't feel right taking away a happy ending from her friend like that. She would make sure that Ochako got her happy ending too, she would even make Ochako perfect, after all she was her friend and she wanted to be a good friend to her, especially given how helpful she had been with her blood. And the best part was they could both be perfect together, she giggled a little to herself, it was a bit naughty of her to start thinking about Ochako and how her blood would taste when Izuku was right here.

She paused as she heard her phone ring. She made a face, she wanted to make sure that Izuku got her full and undivided attention. However it was Shigaraki calling, aside from being in charge he also was kind of a friend. More importantly if she didn't answer there were probably going to be more interruptions.

"Hi Mister Grumpy hands!" her tone was even more obnoxiously cheerful than usual, both because of how well things had been going for her but also because Shigaraki rarely handled cheerful from her well and would probably want to hang up as fast as possible, letting her get back to work.

There was an annoyed sigh on the other end but he spoke, "Himiko where the hell have you been? It's been nearly a week now with no check ins and hero activity has been intensifying both in terms of patrol activity and number on patrols."

She actually giggled a bit, "Aww, you actual care! Well as to where I've been I've been on a date and it's kind of rude for me to interrupt with a phone call." She could hear Shigaraki sigh on the phone, and that gave her a little laugh too. It was fun to push his buttons and make him irrirated, he was so easy to bother that way. However he was fairly observant in what was said.

"A date…wait who do you have captive then?" Irritation was clearly rising from him. She probably should have felt a little offended that he automatically assumed the date meant someone captive. After all Izuku wasn't a captive anymore, he was like this to make it easier to work, she was certain that if she tried to let him down he'd ask to be kept where she could work on him.

She sighed, "My darling Izuku of course, he was a bit of trouble at first but now he's been so good. I might even reward him again." She could pracitacally hear him grimacing on the other side of the phone.

"You have him, that damn brat? Of course, that must be why the heroes are out in force, they're trying to recover one of their own. Himiko, you need to bring him to us. Let me know where you are and I'll send you an escort to get him to us before one of the heroes catches you." Himiko rolled her eyes.

"We're almost done and it would be really rude of me to just end our date like that. Besides this is supposed to be intimate and special." She gave another laugh, tinged with a dark manic energy. She wasn't looking at Izuku so she couldn't see the look of fear he had hearing her malevolent giggle. He couldn't make out anything that was being said.

Giggling she then spoke, "Well, I need to go now I've kept him waiting long enough, bye grumpy hands!" she smiled and shut her phone, deciding to turn it off too. She might miss other notifications but she had something far more important to focus on now.

Picking up her blades she smiled, a lovesick blush on her face, "Don't worry Izuku-kun, you're almost perfect."

* * *

On the other side of the conversation Shigaraki glared at his phone. Me was able to resist the urge to clench his hand on it and disintegrate it. Aside from the obvious annoyance at replacing it, and the loss of progress on a few of his games, he also knew that Kurogiri would remark on it as an example of lost self-control. Speaking of Kurogiri, he summoned him and relayed the conversation he had had with Toga.

"I need you to get a few of our lower tier enforcers, probably better than what we used for the USJ attack. No more than four, we need to send them to Himikos location and get both her and the brat and bring them back here. Make sure they can carry him restrained."

Kurogiri paused, "Master Shigaraki, I understand your irritation but are you sure this is the right track to take? Miss Himiko can be frustrating but I'm not sure sending enforcers to drag her back is going to work. I understand your desire to punish her but.."

Before he could continue Shigaraki raised a hand to forestall the comments, "Believe it or not I'm actually impressed with her, maybe even proud. Managed to abduct All-Mights successor and kept him hidden and the heroes still haven't tacked her down. Hell I only know about it because I spoke with her. The fact is this is…more of a rescue operation at this point, primarily for her sake."

He could practically hear the skepticism in Kurogiris expression, though his second kept his tone neutral, "If it's a rescue then why not dispatch any of the Nomu, or one of the other members of the vanguard action squad?"

Shigaraki sighed, "We don't have a steady supply of Nomu anymore with Sensei captured. The ones we have we will need to hoard. Also they only act under orders, and given Togas position it might just as likely follow her instructions. As for other members of the vanguard action squad, Dabi would likely just antagonize her and get into an argument that could escalate. Spinner might try to liberate the prisoner given that he apparently spared them during the attack on the camp based on a connection to Stain. Twice is an issue in that he's close enough with her that we might get clones of them instead of the genuine articles. Compress would actually work but I have him on assignment right now"

Kurogiri seemed to shift somewhat, not speaking but his posture had altered and his expression almost seemed to change as well, it would be intensely subtle and the only reason that Shigaraki recognized it was his long period of interaction with him. He decided to expound a bit, both out of amusement at Kurogiris apparent surprise at his analysis but also to clarify his own thoughts. He tended to monologue, probably a habit that he had to adjust.

"The fact is that Toga took a prisoner that the heroes are out in force to try to find and recover. This has had the consequence of making some of our other operations less viable as we have had to avoid a massive increase in patrol. Not to mention that they will find her, likely wherever she is is fairly innocuous or well hidden, maybe both. But the fact is they will find her and with how engrossed she is she may not leave before it's too late. Aside from me not wanting to lose any more of my people especially among my elites, she was also able to pull off something impressive that deserves reward and part of that reward is protection for when the heroes come. And they will likely be there sooner rather than later, enough time has passed that they may find them by law of averages alone, not to mention that if they have people monitoring cell phones our call may have tipped them off."

Kurogiri spoke up then, "Alright but I doubt she told you where she was, how are you going to find her?" The question didn't seem challenging, more like he was trying to understand. Kurogiri kept it to himself but he was actually feeling some pride towards Shigarakis growth since Sensei had been captured. This was one of the larger examples of that growth and it gave him hope for his future and the future of the league.

Shigaraki smirked, "Luckily for me, and indirectly her, she's very chatty with certain people and I have listening devices set up in different locations. I also made a point of finding out about fallback positions of our more useful members in case we face another major assault against a stronghold or if I need to find them if they go dark. In her case she has a somewhat surprising number, most of them though are just places for her to hide or to work with a victim. She mentioned having Izuku though and given her obsession she would need somewhere private and secure that could also give her space to work since this would be special to her. There are about six locations I could guess that it would be, sending a few of our lower level enforcers to each should convince her to leave with them and if the heroes get there first, or at least before they can evac, it at least gives enough of a distraction for Himiko to get away, preferably either bringing the brat with her or having killed him before."

He thought to himself about the situation and was somewhat amused by it. Himiko and her captor were both playing very different games, for her it was a dating sim and for him most likely a survival horror. Though the win condition for one would be a certain loss for the other. Regardless the symbol of peace was gone and now he had a good chance to annihilate his successor as well. End his legacy and possibly even break the will of the husk that he hated so much. He smiled to himself, things were almost perfect.


	7. Chapter 7: Snatched Away

_Hey guys, sorry this took a while, as mentioned in the last chapter new job has been murder on my writing schedule. Also realized I needed to do some page break editing here, so sorry about that, reposting with that revision. I also want to thank everyone who has been reading and commenting, favoriting and following, much appreciated._

Shoji sat on his perch, restless. He knew what he was doing was important and he knew that it was necessary but it didn't change the nervous tension he felt. That fear that by waiting here instead of being out searching a classmate was in mortal peril. He had his job though given his abilities he was excellent at gathering information, he could reshape his arms into ears, eyes, and other sensory organs and lately he had been learning to do more to gain better sensory abilities, seeing farther or being better at seeing in darkness. He had been one of the observers here for a while, he was distinctive but he had been kept here when not in class.

He knew that what he was doing had purpose and use, technically he had apparently managed to get information that was useful in two cases but at this point he didn't find that very helpful given that Izuku was still a prisoner. The situation at the dorms wasn't much better, Izuku being missing had initially been able to go unnoticed by saying he was training or something similar but eventually someone would notice and the story would get harder to keep quiet.

Izukus mother had been a bit of a terror as well, he had only heard rumors but allegedly she had managed to intimidate several teachers with the tirade she had gone on. He made himself focus, the important thing was gathering information, getting data relevant to…

"…And that's why we're sending you."

He froze, he remembered that voice, that voice was the voice of the shadow teleporter. The one at USJ, he would remember that voice for years. He focused himself on that, using a free arm to grab a pen and write down everything her heard as he kept listening.

"Your job is simple, talk to her and explain that she needs to move the prisoner. If there is resistance you are to protect her and help her get the prisoner out. Priority is recovering them. If you are captured don't worry, you and your families will be taken care of should you be captured while helping her, though if you are captured due to simple idiocy instead, that will not be rewarded.

Shouji copied the information down, once no more seemed forthcoming he contacted his hero supervisor.

* * *

Two hours later after intelligence had been gathered and reviewed the heroes and students were assembled, Nedzu stood to address the overall group of heroes. "I'll try to keep this short and to the point. Izuku Midorya is apparently the prisoner of a member of the league of villains. Intelligence gathered from several sources implies that they're sending people to try to assist in moving him, however there were multiple locations listed. Also, problematically we're stretched rather thin at the moment. As it is merely trying to find him without news becoming widespread has created a situation where we did not have the proper numbers to deal with the situation. However we believe that we can help with this, I don't make the decision lightly but I intend to use the students to assist us in this."

There was some shock and objection from other teachers and pro heroes involved, however Nedzu spoke over them. "This isn't up for debate! The fact is that we have a very narrow window and we also have reason to believe that he may be badly injured or in an unstable mental state. Given that, it is likely that he will react more positively to people he is familiar with, not to mention that in a practical sense we do not have time to try to organize a larger group of pro heroes for this. The students are under strict orders to not engage with the villains, they are only to assist in civilian crowd control and the recovery of Midoriya Izuku."

The last part was spoken with a kind of dark finality, it was very clear that if the students tried to engage in battle that would be it. Each of them nodded, they were split off in teams of two and three as part of larger hero groups, placed more due to assumed utility of the students for recovery or the hero having some experience with them. As they were assigned and sent out Nedzu knew that he could only hope this went well, if it went worse this would likely be it for UA. As it was part of the other reason he did it was that frankly he knew the students would be out searching anyway, too many of them had gotten information and even if there was a threat of punishment it was just as likely that they would go out themselves. For now he had to trust he had made the right decision, he was quite certain he had, but, well one always wonders.

* * *

Tsuyu took a few deep breaths, she wasn't sure if she was hoping that this is where Midoriya was being held or not. She wanted to see her friend, wanted to be able to make sure he survived. But she wasn't sure if she wanted to find him as a prisoner and see directly whatever had happened to him. She didn't know if she was just squeamish about seeing it or if it had more to do with that lingering feeling of guilt that she was partially responsible for his capture. The target location was fairly ominous too, a morgue.

Her imagination wasn't helping, she imagined hearing him pounding from the inside of one of the vault drawers. Or finding him torn apart. She shuddered, she didn't like her mind right now, didn't like how cruelly it seemed to be taunting her. She remembered him saving her and Mineta at USJ, and now….now her words when he went to rescue Bakugo echoed cruelly in her head. She shouted the voices in her mind down, now wasn't the time to worry or fear about this, now was the time to focus and help rescue her friend and make sure that no civilians got caught up in this. That was her job that was what she was going to do. She looked at Ojiro, he seemed to be trying to keep his expression in a kind of meditative calm. As for Tooru, well she couldn't see the invisible girls face or expression but she could hear her breathing, triyng to steady herself, shaking and swaying a little in either nervous energy or just trying to comfort herself.

The vehicle carrying them pulled up, a perimeter was set up and they moved in quickly. One of the first things they noticed was that there didn't seem to be any civilians here, it was actually a it odd. Morgues weren't exactly places where you expected to see a large number of people but it seemed weirdly eerily still. Even stranger was when Tooru pointed to some of the paperwork on a desk, it was dated a week and a half ago. They started moving through and saw a reinforced door that was labeled as leading to the Morgue itself. Listening at the door they heard what sounded like an argument. A high pitched petulant snarl.

"I don't care what you were told, you can't take him! We aren't finished with our date yet and I haven't finished my work! If you want to try to move him you can wait but you need to go. We need to be alone for this!"

Tsuyu blanched when she heard that voice, she remembered it, remembered that blonde psycho that attacked her and Ochako during the summer camp. The girl who now had Izuku in her clutches. Ochako had admitted to Tsuyu that memories of the girl given her more than one night,are and Tsuyu had had similar experiences, now this girl had Midoriya doing…something to him and her tone of voice made her increasingly unnerved the more her mind tried to determine it.

The pro heroes were quiet, "We're going to move in and try to restrain the villains, hold back, if you see Izuku and see a safe path to him get him and get out. Get him to the vehicle and the driver there will get you to a hospital." The door went open and the heroes moved quickly, needing to keep and maintain initiative. Luckily the villains were too busy arguing to notice the heroes advancing, though that changed quickly. They leapt into action, "You're all under arrest, on your knees hands on your heads!"

The villains of course didn't surrender, as the fight broke out between them the three heroes in training scanned the room to look for Izuku. They found him though they almost regretted looking, he looked like he had been peeled. His costume had been reduced to bloody filthy rags hanging off of his body, his skin looked tattered and torn coated in layers of what looked like dried blood and grime. He was set up on a brace, bound at multiple points. He may have been conscious but they couldn't be sure. After a few moments of analysis they formed a plan. Ojiro had Hagurake hop on his back, leaping down the side of the stairs using his tail and his own natural agility to allow for a more controlled fall to get them down there quickly Hagurake would break Izukus bindings while Ojiro covered her, ideally he would then grab Hagurake and Izuku and they would get the hell out. If not Tsuyu would use her tongue to grab him and pull him in and get out that way, Hagurake and Ojiro running out after.

As the two leapt down Izuku heard the movement nearby his eyes snapped open and he saw Ojiro…when had Himiko gotten Ojirous blood…oh no. She must have looked like him and gotten close, his fault, all his fault and he caused more of his friends to get hurt. But then he saw a set of gloves moving…wait..Hagurake..this was really them, they were here to rescue him…oh no he had to tell them to go, to leave. They weren't safe, this was some sort of trap that she set up, it had to be.

"Go, go, you have to get out of here, if you don't go she'll have you to. Please…I know you want to help me but you can't just go, please.." his eyes filling with tears as he pleaded with them. "She won't let you take me, I can't escape…please…" In response he heard a somewhat dismissive tisking sound behind him.

"Well we're here and we're getting you out Midoriya, so quit fighting it…jeez you'd think you'd be happier to see us." She was also quietly cursing at the restraints, these things were pretty well reinforced which made sense given the green haired boys quirk, and given how defeated he had sounded odds were he had probably tried to escape before and couldn't.

As he tried to warm them though a new voice was heard, "I said we needed privacy. None of you are invited so get away from my darling Izuku! He doesn't need or want you here!" With eyes gleaming with focused fury she lunged at Ojiro, he was able to dodge her attack but just barely, the blade swinging quickly. Hagurake began to work more frantically, hoping she wouldn't be noticed. She managed to get the bindings open and suddenly felt the searing pain of a cold blade in her, she let out a piteous squeal and nearly fell to the ground. Looking she saw Himiko glaring at her, getting ready for another attack, though Ojiro grabbed her, shouting for Tsuyu who shot out her tongue to grab Izuku and pull him to her.

Even as she did she sort of regretted it, for one thing Midoriya was trying to fight off the rescue, though not very effectively given how weakened he likely was. Somewhat more problematic was the fact that because it was her TONGUE touching him she tasted the dried blood, the grime, on him and her stomach retched. She managed to force the impulse away and grabbed him, cradling him as she lept with Ojiro holding a bleeding Tooru. Running hard, unsure of where Himiko might be, sometimes hearing movements but the priority was Izuku, even as he tried to push away, begged to be left so they would be safe.

Tsuyu hated herself but she tightened the grip of her tongue slightly, Izuku gave a pained cry but he mercifully passed out. Tsuyu wasn't proud of hurting him more but if she didn't stop him from trying to stop his own rescue he could get killed, not to mention that trying to thrash around probably wasn't good for him in his state. They managed to get out of the building and into one of the vehicles, as it sped towards the hospital they looked at their friend, torn, tattered and broken. Would they even be able to heal this? Would he even be able to continue his hero training after this? Deafening silence blanketed the vehicle.


	8. Chapter 8: Not Quite Free

_Hey everyone, sorry this took so long, the job has been cutting into my ability to write, I have also been doing a few side projects that I am hoping to be able to share. I should also mention that I am planning to change my username on here to NaturesStressBall soon, this is also my username on AO3 if you want to look at some of my other work, though I should mention it is fairly NSFW as an advance. Also I again want to thank everyone who has read my work and favorited it and me and especially each person who has left comments._

"What do you mean she won't heal him?!" Ochako looked mad enough to rip someone in half. After it had been confirmed that Izuku had been rescued the other groups were contacted and convened. Tooru was being treated for her knife wounds, injuries that were made somewhat harder to treat by her quirk. Izuku was in the intensive care unit and when the others from 1A had met here they found out from Aizawa that Recovery Girl had refused to heal Izuku with her quirk.

Ocachako had remembered Deku talking about how Recovery Girl had told her that she wouldn't heal him anymore after the incident from the camp, that from this point onward if he was injured he was on his own. That, coupled with the level of damage to his arms potentially would have ended his dream of becoming a hero. She didn't like that but she understood the reasoning of trying to keep Izuku from destroying himself. This though…he didn't cause this, he didn't injure himself from being foolish or reckless, he was injured because some psychopath grabbed him and cut him to ribbons.

Aizawa was the one who delivered the news, he took a deep breath, "The reason she has refused are several fold. The largest being that due to the severity of his injuries her method of healing him may actually exacerbate the problems of blood loss. Once we're certain that we have the hospital secure his mother will be brought to visit him. As it is, the situation is less than ideal." That was putting it mildly, the doctors who had looked him over had felt that it was honestly a near miracle that Izuku hadn't keeled over dead before all of this. He was the victim of heavy blood loss, not to mention multiple infections and complications from untreated unwashed wounds. Not to mention they had found several examples of flesh eating bacteria near what they assumed were bite wounds, as it was the infections were bad but were being managed.

The physical damage was an entirely different issue, his skin had been badly scarred and in a few cases nearly flayed. His back was among the more unpleasant part of it, apparently his captor had branded him with both hot metal and shaped scars. His back was a bit odd as well as disturbing with there being a happy face and hearts carved into the flesh of his back, it would have been funny if it hadn't been so obviously grotesque. He also had damage to his arms from what looked like repeated stab wounds, work had been done on his legs as well though fortunately for Izuku not as severely.

The other problem however was muscle degradation, he had been kept more or less immobile for an extended period, he had likely been given some allowances to move but he had still lost some of his muscle mass. Other tests had shown mild to severe dehydration as well as malnourishment though it was hard to tell if he had been refusing food and water or if he had been denied it by his captor or captors. One other problem had been sleep deprivation which may have been an intentional part of his captivity or simply a side effect of what happened. Between rehabilitation and recovery it might take a month or more before he could e considered anywhere near properly functional. The situation was grim, it wouldn't be enough to remove him from classes yet but it was something that would prove to be an issue.

Mental damage however…that was an entirely different situation and one that would be far harder to assess at current. He had been rendered unconscious during his transport here due to his attempt to fight off his rescuers, a sign of a problem in and of itself. Likely he was either suffering from Stockholm syndrome or he had been turned, though the latter seemed less likely given the level of torture his body had endured coupled with other signs of physical abuse it was possible. There were also the obvious consequences of this sort of situation in victims of attacks like this, plenty of heroes had similar problems and few of them had been held for a period this long and had this much damage inflicted on their bodies.

Part of the issue was that there would be few good ways to get the relevant information. The pro heroes sent with the students who recovered Midoriya had only been able to recover some low level thugs and they refused to say who the actual captor had been. Students had stated that it was a girl who called herself Himiko Toga, and that she had been one of the ones involved in the attack on the Pussycats compound. Aizawa privately hoped that this had been part of a larger operation instead of one of the league as a lone actor. While the idea that the league was targeting students was not a pleasant idea it was better than thinking that a lone actor had managed to stalk one of their students, infiltrate their communications and then evade capture for a week. Either way he made a mental note to begin adding countersurveilance to what he would be teaching his class.

Now Izuku was laying in the intensive care unit, still unconscious, though in this case the lack of consciousness was also partially being maintained by painkillers being used to try to soothe the results of injuries he had sustained. They had been told that within the next few hours he would likely be awake and able to accept visitors and much of Class 1-A had come to see him. The only reason his mother wasn't here at the moment was due to she and her escort being caught up in traffic. At this point they weren't going to lower security on her, not until they were completely certain. Aizawa also knew they were probably going to have to delay her once she arrived, if only to make sure they got as complete of an account of what happened as they could from Izuku.

This was going to be a rough period but first they had to wait for him to wake up, as it was he was probably going to be under for a while. They also were probably going to need to keep him under guard here, at least until he could be moved back to UA. Overall this was a mess, he remembered promising that the students would be safe and this happened. He knew that curtailing patrols may be an option…no right now the priority was to determine Izukus status and make decisions from there.

He checked his phone, his secret weapon hadn't arrived yet. He remembered the arguments he had had with the principal over it but the fact was that they needed all the information they could get. Also at this point Izuku was a student and a victim and if necessary Aizawa would find any other adjective necessary to allow for his plan to work. He wasn't exactly proud of his reasoning but at this point the actions were necessary, given Izukus state he didn't know any other way to extract the information.

There was a sudden sound of excitement among some of the students, he also noticed two doctors and several nurses rushing into Midoriyas room. There was some movement and one of the doctors emerged. "He seems to be waking up and can likely take vistors. We recommend not doing anything that might startle him and be very aware of his condition. He lost a lot of blood so he may have difficulty focusing and may be very tired. Be careful when getting close to him and also remember that he may be anxious." There were a few small chuckles at that, remembering how much he seemed to stammer and stutter. They headed in slowly, Aizawa privately hoping that Midoriya would be in a state to answer questions.

He woke up, his mind was foggy, the last thing he remembered was Togas dark chuckle with her glistening teeth and the cold shine of her blade. He began a mental checklist to try to determine what condition he was in and he was suddenly very confused. The strange thing was that the hurt was gone, well not gone exactly but it seemed to be in a distant room. He wasn't as cold either, he blinked a few times and heard strange noises. He blinked, he didn't feel grungy either, maybe she cleaned him? He wasn't sure if that was something he should be grateful for or disturbed by. He looked around again and suddenly saw his friends, the room was different too.

It still had that oddly sterile smell to it but there wasn't that constant smell of blood that he had become used to. He looked and saw his classmates, he was surprised. Where…where was he? He tried to think, to remember what had happened. It had begun to feel like it had been months, maybe years when he had been captured. He moved his arms experimentally, ah yes there was pain again. Pain that was familiar but he had mobile arms again. He wasn't really paying attention to what was going on around him, though the voices got louder and a bit clearer.

Suddenly he felt arms around him, he blinked, and he saw Ochako. She was saying something about how she had missed him and was so worried about him. But…no, he saw it in her eyes, Ochako wouldn't get so close. No, it had to be Toga, he had to get her away, disable her, stop her from harming anyone else. He called on One for All by reflex and grabbed her. "Get away!" Throwing her with all of his enhanced might, causing her to hit the wall with a vicious crack. She let out a scream and then a piteous whimper, looking up at him with heartbroken and terrified eyes.

"D..deku…why…?" He saw signs of damage, he stared. No…no..did he…did he just? The others stared at him in a mixture of shock and horror. Oh god, he had attacked Ochako, he had attacked someone he cared about. His best friend, the first person to make him feel like something other than a failure. He began rocking back and forth, he didn't know what his arms were doing but Aizawa managed to negate his quirk. There were shouts for the doctors, something about needing to stop him from reinjuring himself. There were shouts and sobs, he wasn't even sure who or what they were directed at anymore as he retreated further into his own mind, sobbing and shaking. Monster, he was a monster.


	9. Chapter 9: Catatonia and Brainwashing

_Hey everyone, sorry this took so long to get published. Combination of writers block and work. Good news is that hopefully the next few chapters will be coming a bit faster. I appreciate all the comments and constructive criticism. Also as a note as of next month I will be changing the username here to NaturesStressBall the same name I use on Ao3, just mentioning so no one thinks my work got stolen or anything_

* * *

She didn't blame him, she wasn't mad. She hurt, by everything that she understood she was in intense pain. She didn't understand how Deku could have endured this happening to him so many times. She sighed, most of the others had left. After Izuku had his panic attack he was restrained and drugged. She wasn't mad at him, she knew he had to have had a reason. She stared up at the ceiling, the initial shock from all of it was still raw. He had never attacked her before, she never imagined he would but there was raw fury and fear in his eyes when he threw her,

She was in a bit of an odd state, her leg felt heavy now and her joints had that odd burning feeling. Recovery girl had healed her, she managed to resist the urge to try to ask recovery girl why she didn't do anything more for Deku. Even as she lay there, her body wanted badly to rest but her own stress and the feeling in her body made that desire a rather unlikely to be fulfilled one. She didn't even know where the rest of the class was at this point, though she sort of assumed that most of them were either trying to get through to Izuku or back a the dorms. She had sort of had trouble focusing on anything but she was quite sure that most of the class was very interested in what had happened. It was all sort of a blur, but what really got her was that look on Izukus face, that raw rage and then that sudden look of pain and shock, as if he suddenly realized what he had done.

She was more worried then he seemed to almost have a seizure afterwards, but she wasn't sure if that was what she saw or if she had just gone into shock herself. She remembered a few patches of things after that., some of her friends helping the nurses get her onto a gurney. The doctor being fairly kind if a bit distracted, and then what felt like a giant maze of hallways before she got dropped off. She stared at the ceiling, she was worried but apparently the school was going to deal with the medical bill. She tried to focus on something other than the burning sensation in her limbs and ended up finding a distraction in a very odd source when she heard a voice outside in the hall, rather animated as well.

* * *

"You have to let me in to see him! He's my son, my baby! If even half of what I heard is accurate I need to see him, to be sure he's alright! You can't force me to stay out here!" Ochako couldn't see but she could hear the screaming and could all but hear the despair and anger in the womans voice. She realized a bit belatedly that it was the voice of Izukus mother, she wasn't sure who she was arguing with though, but then the other side of the conversation entered, softer but clear and authoritative.

"In fact I can keep you out here, at least for the time being. The fact is that right now in this situation we need to get all the information that we can out of him. And given some of what we've been able to deduce he is going to have a hard enough time sharing it. You being there may comfort him or it may make him too ashamed to tell us everything that happened or he may not be fully accurate. We can't get the information we need both to protect your son and the other students if we can't get all the information." She was a bit surprised it was Aizawa-sensei that was meeting with Izukus mother and not Mr. Toshinori or the principal.

There was an incoherent sound that was a mixture of sob and angry shout, "I don't care about the other students or your damn school! I'm worried about my son! I need to make sure that he's safe and I need to let him know that I'm here. Maybe I should just pull him out of the school like I had wanted to in the first place!"

There was a sigh, "You are free to do that ma'am, however I wouldn't recommend it. For one thing, I don't know how he would react in his state to hearing that on top of everything else. But to be purely practical, if you do that's fine but then we have to pull the guards we have on his room. We will still of course pay for all medical bills gained here and provide support where obligated However.."

There was the sound of a slap, "How dare you threaten my son!?"

"I'm not threatening him. We don't have the people or resources to protect a non-student. As it is we're going to have to explain the situation but luckily it was dealt with without much fanfare. But we will have a hard time justifying guarding him when our students in our care are also plausible targets and he is no longer a student with us."

There was the sound of some ragged breathing and a sob, her voice was ragged and hateful, "You're a bastard!"

"Entirely possible ma'am. But right now whether or not you believe me I am actually very concernred about your sons wellbeing. This isn't just about getting information for security, we also need to have some idea what kind of rehabilitation and counseling he is going to need after this. Which, as mentioned we will also be providing funding for. I don't pretend that we haven't failed him, but I am asking you to please make sure we don't fail him now. I promise you that once we're done we'll make sure you can go see him." Ochako was actually a bit relieved that the attack on her wasn't mentioned. She didn't want to make Izukus mother panic, though she did wonder if that was the other reason Aizawa didn't want her going in before him.

* * *

There was a sound of sorrow and frustration and then the sound of loud walking away, apparently Mrs. Midoriya had decided to let Aizawa have his way. Ochako paused for a few moments, looking up she noticed an air vent above her bed. If the argument was this close to her room then it might mean that Izuku was nearby as well. On a hunch she paused and put her hands to her body, she wasn't restrained and she was able to float herself up to the vent. She gripped onto one of the hooks on the ceiling and listened at the vent.

* * *

Shinso looked at Aizawa with some skepticism. He heard the argument and sat awkwardly waiting to see how it played out. He understood that he was being asked to help but even he admitted that this felt distinctly uncomfortable. "Ok, I get what you want me to do but I'm not exactly sure why you want me to do it in particular."

Aizawa sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "The reason is simple, Midoriya is near catatonic, and I know you heard the conversation. I wasn't lying when I told her that we need information from him. Anything he knoHe ws is going to be important. Right now he isn't in a state to remember what happened let alone talk. We need to be able to get him to speak and that means we need someone that can either review his thoughts or cause him to review what happened. Fortunately your quirk seems to put the person into a fog, it's unlikely he'll remember any of this as he reviews it. You can also leave the room once he starts speaking, you don't want to hear this and I won't subject you to it."

Shinso nodded, but the look of confusion remained, "Alright but why me, why not a pro hero or at least a third year student?" He seemed more than a little concerned about the choice of himself, trying to figure out why it was decided to use him.

Aizawa looked annoyed but answered, "The list of people who have the kinds of quirks we would need for this are fairly small. You were more accessible, less well known, and perhaps most importantly you function at a range. Midoriya has shown he might attack anyone getting close, but you can affect him at a distance. Also because he is familiar with you he is more likely to respond as well as you being less likely to be someone he would assume is a threat."

Shinso nodded again and walked in with Aizawa. Izuku was laying on his bed, muttering intermittenelt,y his eyes glistening with tears but also oddly glassy. The machines beeped and showed different readouts, only a few were easily understandable. He paused, this was going to be a bit tricky as he had to make sure he got Midoriyas attention and response. In the fog he seemed to be in that looked difficult and even as he considered it the idea felt a bit wrong, controlling him in this state.

He closed his eyes and willed those thoughts away, he was doing this because it was needed. Both for Izukus sake and possibly for other students if they were targets. He looked at Izuku and pondered a plan of attack, a basic greeting might work, "Midoriya, do you remember me?"

Izukus head didn't even turn, he supposed he shouldn't be surprised. Midoriya didn't react to their entrance so of course he wouldn't respond to speech. He thought of getting closer to listen to the mumbling, but he also remembered Aizawas repeated admonitions to stay out of reach, that was part of why he had been chosen after all. Ok, he had to think. The main thing was understanding Midoriya well enough to know what would get a reaction. Unfortunately, he didn't know him that well.

He had started to pace now, he grunted suddenly, stumbling over the great maze of cables and cords on the ground running to the bank of machinery helping keep Izuku alive and in less pain. As he tumbled and groaned a bit in pain Izukus head suddenly snapped towards him. Izuku wasn't looking at him exactly, or didn't seem to register that there was someone there, but he did seem to react. Shinso thught for a few moments. Midoriya was apparently someone that wanted badly to be a hero, maybe even in that state he noticed someone else being hurt, someone else in pain and that cut at least partially through his haze.

He knew that he was going to have to reach him but now he had a way, well maybe. He inched closer, speaking calmly, "Hello Midoriya, I think you remember me right? I'm Shinso we fought in the sports festival. You managed to break the control before but now I think I need you not to, I think you can do that can't you?" He made himself trip again, though immediately regretted it as he controlled the fall poorly and slammed on his right knee, letting out a wheeze of pain.

Midoriya seemed to clear at that sound, turning, he blinked, "Shins.." his pupils dilated slightly and his expression slacked. Shinso looked up and forced himself up, rubbing his knee and cursing his apparently poor pain threshold. He looked at the figure in the hospital bed awaiting instructions. He saw the scarring and injury, saw the raw skin and other damages that seemed to coat his body. He took a deep breath.

"Ok, you are going to answer Aizawa-Senseis questions completely and to the best of your ability. You won't leave anything out, whatever you saw, felt, smelled, and thought you are going to tell him. You will pause to answer questions he asks and you will answer them completely. Once he says that he is done asking questions you are going to lay down and rest as comfortably as possible for 8 hours of dreamless sleep or until a doctor or nurse tries to rouse you." The parts after the questioning were his own addition but they seemed like an appropriate mercy given the situation.

He looked to Aizawa for approval or if anything else was needed, and Aizawa simply nodded. "You can wait outside, you're not going to want to hear this and frankly I'm already probably going to have enough problems explaining this without potentially traumatizing the other student I brought in for this." Shinso paused, he wasn't close to Midoriya but he did have a connection even if it was tangential. It almost felt like abandoning him to leave, but then he thought about who or what did that to the boy in the hospital bed and he decided that maybe he would be a lot more interested in not knowing. He stepped back into the hallway, hoping that the fog that seemed to settle in the minds of those affected by his quirk would help shield Midoriyas mind at least a little while he relived that happened.

For his part Aizawa put down a recording device and began, "Alright Midoriya, I need you to tell me what happened starting from approximately an hour before you remember being captured." He sat and listened, and as he listened several insights about the situation formed for him and none of them was especially pleasant. The biggest problem was that between what they had seen independently and what he was saying this was literally the lone action of one villain. One villain with an apparent psychotic obsession with Midoriya and a fixation on him. The fact that she had been able to determine where he was, let alone her ability to infiltrate communications and then capture and hide him for a week was disturbing.

It also meant that when he spoke to Inko Midoriya he was going to have an extremely unpleasant conversation with her. Explaining the problem to her was necessary, she may become a target as might her husband when he returns home. The other problem is that frankly this is a fixation and it won't stop if he stops training to be a hero, not that the boy would. Even sending him to another school likely wouldn't help as many of them wouldn't be any better able to protect him and may not be able to keep him sufficiently trained to deal with a threat like this if it happens again which seemed likely.

As worrisome as all of that was it still wasn't the biggest concern he had. Izuku had spoken several times a bit strangely, his words and tone implying he was dissociating heavily from his body. This meant one of two things. Ideally it was that the amount of pain he had experienced had been severe enough that his mind couldn't wall it off and he had to force himself to escape from it. The more unpleasant, but also unfortunately likely, reason was that his captor may have taken liberties with him while he couldn't resist. The fact that Izuku even with the brainwashing didn't seem to be fully aware of what happened could be a blessing though he hoped that in that case it stayed forgotten.

He also made sure to note the type and number of injuries that Midoriya had been aware of, all of that was going to be needed by the people taking care of him and knowing what might have been done to treat wounds before as well as the level of blood drain would be useful to say the least. He sighed and looked at the young hero. The words that came a the end being what stuck with him.

"When I saw them, trying to save me, I knew that it wouldn't work, she was too smart, she would track me down again, or she would trap them too and torture them. Or she would drain them. I don't matter, I don't deserve to be a hero but I could sacrifice myself.. I could have given myself to save them." The boy had a massive martyr complex, likely born from a combination of the earlier bullying her suffered combined with his near obsessive hero worship of all might.

The problem though more came from when he explained what happened when the attack happened, "When I saw everyone I was scared but I felt somewhat safe. No way that she would be able to be everyone, I was safe. Safe. Then..when Uraraka got close I was scared. I was barely awake, I only saw her, I remembered Toga looking like her. I felt the adrenaline surge, my limbs and body moved faster than I could. I didn't even realize what I had done until it was too late. Now she hates me, she has to. She tried to comfort me and I hurShe t her. I don't deserve her I don't deserve to be loved. I don't deserve.." Aizawa had told him that the questions were done, causing Izuku to suddenly fall into a deep sleep. Aizawa sighed again as he gathered up the recording device. This was not going to be easy to fix, but it would have to at least be attempted and he was going to need to establish rules for guarding Midoriya until he recovered as well as rules for the students going forward.

At this point Midoriya was likely to view anyone and everyone as a potentially hidden Toga so he would probably need to have groups of people with him to avoid having violent or terrorized reactions. Though there was one thing that had impressed Aizawa, even when the boy thought he had broken he still hadn't, not fully. He had lied to his captor about things involving his classmate Ochako Uraraka. He had said things about pet names, memories, things he had made up but sounded plausible. All as a means to try to hint to her that the Izuku she spoke to might not be real. His last actions when he thought he was going to die were to try to protect someone else.

* * *

She shivered, she had heard all of it, his almost flat descriptions of the pains and torment worked on him, but also of weird stray thoughts. Thoughts that she would have almost thought cute were it not for the context of when he had them, like when his captor had referred to a 'Mr. Stainy' and Izuku had remembered seeing Stain plushes at the mall and thinking they were in bad taste. What actually hit her was when he spoke about his desire to confess to her, and when he thought he had been rescued. She heard the words, those sweet simple words from someone who had felt so alone and frightened. She wished she had been the first one to hear them, wished that she could go to him right now and comfort him.

Her hands were shaking, she felt a twinge of nausea so forced herself to release, tapping her clothing as she fell to help slow it enough that she didn't simply crash downwards. She heard movement and turned, hypervigilant. However it was Tsuyu and Iida, probably there to pick her up. Though the smile Tsuyu had seemed to melt away and Iidas face, while always stern, now looked a bit unnerved. "Kerro…Uraraka-san are you alright?"

Ochako couldn't see her own face, couldn't see the look in her eyes that seemed to be a mixture of her expression of determination as well as something almost tinged with madness. There was a dark hate in her expression as well, something that looked primal and cruel. When she spoke her tone was almost eerily calm, "No, I'm not alright but it's fine. I will be. I'm going to track down the monster that did this to Deku and I am going to kill her."


	10. Chapter 10: Vengeful Love

_Sorry for the slight delay, also a reminder that I have changed my username for anyone that was curious. Meant to match my username on AO3. Also I want to thank everyone who has commented, you help me keep on writing and I hope everyone enjoys._

* * *

"You can't be serious. Leaving aside the fact that that sort of behavior and thinking is incredibly inappropriate for a hero in training or a hero in general.." Iidas tone was one of a kind of angry disappointment. He felt pain and anger for what had happened to his friend at well but when the idea of such behavior entered his mind he felt the phantom aches from the wounds that Stain had inflicted. The memory that he had nearly caused the death of himself and his friends for selfish vengeful action. He knew that Ochako was frequently prone to intense feelings but for her to say it so casually and coldly was unnerving.

For her part she met his gaze "You don't understand! He won't be safe, he won't even be able to feel safe until she's gone. Not imprisoned, not on the run, GONE! She nearly killed Tsuyu and I at the camp, and since then she's tried to get close to him and managed to abduct him. He isn't safe like this, he can't be safe, not unless she isn't breathing." Her hands were shaking as she had clenched them into fists and her eyes had that same look of dark intensity to them.

Tsuyu tried to broach things a bit differently, remembering the small psychopath in the sailor suit and a propensity for blades. She hoped she might be able to talk Ochako down from something that all of them could end up regretting. "You're not just mad about that, I know you. Kerro. You're mad about something else, something a lot deeper than that and you need to tell us what it is. Is this about what happened when we fought her or is it about…" She saw the pain in her friends eyes and the wheels turned in her mind. She grabbed Ochakos shoulders and looked her in the eyes.

Ochako fidgeted a bit, she had trouble meeting Tsuyus gaze. Not least because she wasn't even sure fully how to articulate all of the anger boiling inside of her. "She..she used my face to hurt him, my voice. She let him think I was rescuing him and then turned back right after he had his highest moment of hope right when he confe…" She stopped herself from speaking further. She had come close to crying but she stood firm, she didn't need to share all of it. What she had said should be enough, Tsuyu had to undersatand.

Instead her friend just put a hand on her shoulder, "He confessed? Oh Ochako-chan." Tsuyu wrapped her in a hug, her eyes were as expressionless as ever but Tsuyu radiated sympathy. Ochako blushed, a little angry that Tsuyu had figured it out and also said it aloud. However Iida seemed to not have heard still pacing and sometimes ticking something off on his fingers, probably organizing his thoughts for what he was going to say. Tsuyu looked at her quietly, "You know he cares about you then, you know he likes you back. Do you really want to risk getting yourself killed in this, you know what that would do to him."

Ochako glared now, shoving Tsuyu away, "That's the whole reason I can't let her be around! This isn't just about what happened. She can be me, he is going to have to be afraid any time he sees me, sees anyone that they could be her. Waiting to abduct him again, waiting to torture him again. Even seeing me, beign close to me would terrorize him or would make him nervous. He deserves better than that, he deserves to be able to be happy with who he wants without having to be afraid that they're secretly that psychotic little blonde bitch!" Her hands were clenched now and the anger swelled up again in her. She wasn't sure if she had ever felt this level of anger, this level of destructive hate inside of herself but now it was there and it was burning brightly.

Tsuyu sighed, she wanted to help her friend and comfort her but more importantly she wanted to make sure that she didn't make a choice that would be catastrophic for her and others. She could tell that there were probably a lot of thoughts roiling around in Ochakos head involving this, many of which she might not even be fully aware of. The obvious concerns of what she would feel for her best friend and for someone who she had at least considered a relationship with would be there. But also there was probably envy, The idea that someone else had heard the confession of love meant for her, had been able to enjoy it. Worse yet had been able to use it to hurt Izuku further.

She paused, "Uraraka…she used my face to hurt him too. She pretended to be me to lure him into the trap. She used my face and voice. When it happened, when I found out…it was tearing me up. It made me feel like it was my fault. I remember that you were among the people telling me that it wasn't my fault, that I had no reason to feel guilty. Kerro. You need to remember that what happened wasn't your fault either. But if you go out and try to attack her and get hurt or worse that will be your fault and you know how much it would hurt him. Not to mention the rest of us." She hoped against hope that maybe her words would reach Ochako, would make her notice that she may have had other motives for this too.

Ochako clenched her fists again, she looked for a moment like she wanted to lash out at Tsuyu, and she seemed to pause a moment but she shook her head. "There's a difference, you weren't used to torture him. Yes, I'm mad at her, yes I want her to be hurt for that. But this is for Izuku, for Deku, it isn't about.." Her voice had been getting louder, enough for Iida to hear and he turned, his voice was flat.

"You're lying, maybe to us or to yourself but you're lying Uraraka-san. I know this probably better than you realize, you know what happened to my brother. You also know what happened, I rushed off with the goal of trying to confront the man I held responsible for my brothers injuries. I told myself I was doing it to avenge him and to bring justice for my families name. That I was doing something selfless, noble. I was performing an act that was equally selfish and stupid, not to mention suicidally dangerous. What I did nearly got Midoriya and Todoroki killed, what I did did nothing to protect the one who Stain had injured with the intent to kill." Tenyas experession wasn't the stern one they were used to seeing, it was one that seemed quieter and more tired, it had an odd kind of weariness to it.

"Do you understand how reckless the idea of going after a villain yourself is? Our class has managed to perform quite a few illustrious feats, and we have also been extraordinarily fortunate. However, we should not take that as some kind of ringing endorsement that we can simply face a villain head on, especially not one that was able to evade capture while holding one of our fellow students hostage!" He looked at her, he seemed afraid when he met her gaze. "I would have died then, and worse still led other people, other heroes and fellow UA students to their deaths. Please, I can imagine how you have to feel right now but I am urging you in the strongest possible way to reconsider."

She looked down and away, Iida was her friend and she knew that he was trying to help her but he didn't understand, couldn't. He might know some of what she felt, but it wasn't like he had had his face used to strike down his brother. Not like his brother recoiled in horror or fear when they saw each other. Not like the bonds that they had could have been stolen or erased by the actions of the hero killer. She took a few breaths to steady herself, she reminded herself that they were trying to help her. They wanted to make sure that she didn't do something she regretted. The problem was that they didn't fully understand. They made good points but there was an issue.

As if reading her mind Tsuyu spoke up again, "We had surprise when there was two of us and she wasn't actively going after us specifically. She also didn't have any of our blood. Kerro. She also retreated when she thought she would lose, that means she has at least some idea of how to handle herself and pull out of a fight. When we tried to rescue him she had broken him badly enough that he practically fought against the rescue and she was able to hit Tooru. Tooru who's main skill is not being noticed. Kerro."

Iida seemed to build on that. His face looked conflicted as he spoke, "Also, it may not be my place to say this…but I don't think you fully understand what losing you would do to Midoriya. He..he has feelings for you. I am sorry to bring this up and normally I wouldn't but the fact is that his actions earlier are probably still haunting him. What would happen if that was the last thing he was ever able to remember of you? You may think you'd be able to handle her but even if you were able to defeat her, you know that she has an organization supporting her. You also remember the other price for what you'd be doing, throwing away your life as a hero. You had told us how you wanted to become a hero to support your family, can you still do that if you get arrested as a vigilante? And that's assuming that you're able to do it."

That cut a bit more, she looked down and schooled her features a bit. What the two of them had said had made sense. At least a bit, she needed an actual plan before she did this and she knew that while she was better than she had been at fighting she still needed more training. She also knew that they probably weren't going to let her out of their sight unless she could convince them that she wasn't going to do this. She looked up, her expression was unsteady, hopefully they would take that as her old resolve breaking instead of it being her trying to hide her full thoughts. "I..I understand what you're saying. I promise that I won't go off on my own, but I can't just forget or ignore this either."

Iida nodded, "And no one is saying that you should. But we need to focus on supporting Midoriya while he recovers as well as making sure that we push as hard as we can to become a proper generation of heroes. Properly worthy of veneration and of the school we attend! I know that this is difficult, but I promise you that this is the better choice. Also…if you need to talk I may be able to aid you in it. I also again apologize about sharing Midoriyas feelings but I also am concerned about his mental state and worry what might happen with him."

Ochako nodded, her face had flushed a bit there, "I won't tell him Iida and I promise I have considered it." She silently hoped that Tsuyu wouldn't add anything to this and she didn't. "If you could both give me a minute to gather my things before we go?" They nodded and stepped out of the room, giving her some space to change clothing. She grabbed her phone, an older model with dozens of charms hanging off of it. She looked up the number and called, keeping her voice quiet. "Bakugo…I may need to ask you for a very big favor…"


	11. Chapter 11: Fangs are Still in Him

Izuku woke up with a start. He looked around, the hospital room, it was darker than he expected but at least he was still here. Still safe, well, he was restrained still but it didn't matter, he knew that he had to be. He had hurt someone. He took a few deep breaths, the room was still dark and it was weirdly quiet. He still heard the beeping of the machinery keeping him alive but the rest of the hospital seemed strangely silent. He heard clicking on tile and looked up, he saw Ochako.

She came in, her tone was quiet and she gave him a small smile, "Izuku-kun…I'm not mad about what you did I promise. I know it wasn't really your fault, you didn't know any better but I promise that things will be different from now on." He took a deep breath when she said that, she forgave him… that made things better, easier. Something still felt wrong though, off, but it was fine, she wasn't mad at him and maybe they could talk more. Instead she came over and started unfastening his restraints.

"U..Uraraka, you can't just.." at which point she suddenly snarled and slapped his face hard enough to leave a handprint, a strange gleam of madness in her eyes when she looked at him.

"Don't you dare say that bitches name or tell me what I can't do!" Suddenly her shape began to twist and melt, leaving toga standing in the room, worryingly armed and standing near him as she inspected him. Her expression somehow seemed even more warped and unstable than it had before when he had been her prisoner. "You've been a very bad boy Izuku. I guess I was wrong, it was your fault!" She slapped him again and then lifted her blade, staring at his body looking at him with disgust.

"They tried to stitch up all your pretty cuts, you let them ruin all of my work Izuku!" Her tone was angry and oddly disappointed. He felt nervous he didn't even know what to day to her. All he could do now was try to keep her distracted, maybe if he was lucky someone would hear her, someone would be able to stop her. He felt some embarrassment at the fact he would need to be rescued again, but right now he was more afraid. He looked into the eyes of his tormentor again and hoped he could stall her.

"H..how did you get in here? And how did you find me, I thought that there were other heroes here?" He tried to sound nonchalant, not wanting to make her feel aggressive or violent as they spoke, but also hoping to keep her attention on him instead of anyone that was out there to help him. She gave him that same smile, her mouth opening to show off her teeth, her fanglike incisors flashing like polished ivory, trying to sound sweet and cute but the smell of blood that surrounded her with the tinge of obsessed madness in her eyes rather ruined the attempt.

"Oh Izuku-Baby I followed you here, you can't ever get away from me. I memorized your scent, no matter where you go or hide I'll always be able to track you down. I'll always be able to smell you. I smelled you on her too…she must have touched you. It's ok, I don't blame you but she shouldn't touch what belongs to me. I had to punish her Izuku…" Her left hand had been behind her back, she suddnely showed it, he saw Ochakos head, eyes pale and dead skin gray, mouth trapped open in a wordless eternal scream. Izuku stared in horror and tried to pull back, he could hear the sounds of bloodspatter, the sounds of blood from Ochakos head falling to the tiles with an odd rhythmic clicking splatter. He stared in horror as Toga seemed to smile ever larger.

"I guess it might really actually be your fault Izuku-darling. I mean you didn't really fight that hard to try to stop them when they came to steal you from me. You know.." She started running her blade over his fingers, leaving small shallow cuts, "that you belong to me. You're my pet, my artwork, I made you so close to perfect and then when you could have tried to stay you were such an INGRATE!" her voice growing increasingly angry and intense, slapping him hard at the last word. He whimpered and tried to pull back but the restraints held him. As he moved his head was angled so that he could see past her properly now, see outside the open door of the room, and when he saw it he screamed.

Bodies, broken, battered and cut. Blood stained the floor as the bodies lay like so much dead wood on the floor. He stared in a dull broken horror. He saw all of them, Tsuyu on the ground bleeding with her eyes dull and dead, Kacchan covered in deep cuts broken on the ground, Aizawa sensei stabbed through his eyes… he kept wordlessly begging for anyone to be alive, anyone to be…then he broke down sobbing at what filled his vision next. Toga let out a girlish giggle.

"Oh yeah, that was wonderful Izuku, the two of them were so surprised to see you up and walking around but they came up. It was kind of funny, but I was soooo proud, they actually thought I was you. When you truly love someone you want to become them, to do everything that they do and show just how much like them you are. And my love for you must be the truest since they didn't know until the last moments. Your mom bled almost as pretty as you do Izuku-kun and she was crying so nicely too. She kept asking me 'why' over and over again as I cut her away. Then the skinny guy…oh he was much more fun, when he coughed his blood came right out. I was so grateful that I was much faster with him…"

Izuku tried desperately to wriggle his wrists free from their restraints but it wasn't working, he couldn't seem to move his hands properly. His mind could barely function and the darkness just seemed to grow deeper. He could hear their screams now as he saw their bodies, smell the blood, and all the while in each case he knew their last expression was one that blamed him, reviled him… As he tried to think, tried to free himself Toga suddenly grabbed him and smiled again.

"You really hurt and disappointed me Izuku, but it's ok! I'm very forgiving." The tone she used on forgiving might have been meant to sound sultry but it only made Izuku feel more afraid, memories dancing in the periphery, he felt so much smaller now, so much weaker. She continued, "I just need to work harder this time and I'll make sure to cut away every part of you that's bad, every part that isn't perfect! Cut cut cut! Slice slice slice! All of it cut away to make sure that you're perfect! And this time I'll make sure that you have no reason to even think of leaving..after all.." her body and face began to contort and twist, voice changing as she seemed to take on dozens of faces. "I'm everyone you'll ever need or want now. You never need anyone or anything ever again, only me, only me!"

The intensity in her voice continuing as the could touch of metal against his skin came as she started to cut, the psychotic glee in her eyes making his entire body want to shrink even farther down as she seemed to loom over him. "It will be wonderful Izuku, only us, forever and ever. Only me cutting out all the worthless parts of you, but there are a lot so I have to cut away so much, but then you'll be perfect!" The blade went at his throat and suddenly he shot up screaming.

Still restrained, but the hospital room was properly lit again, he didn't see any bodies on the ground and his own body seemed to be in about the shape it was before they gave him a sedative. He turned and saw All Might…well Toshinori, sitting on a chair near him, seeming to have been startled awake by Izukus scream. He looked at Izuku, wordlessly asking for permission before he put his hand on Izuku to comfort him. Izuku sighed and tried to breath. He wished he could have more of the dreamless sleep he had had the first night here in the hospital but that didn't seem to be a choice. He shivered, trying to put on a brave face for All Might and for the others. He couldn't let them see how weak he was, see how undeserving he was…

Toshinoris voice was calm as he looked at Izuku, "Midoriya my boy…the dreams happened again didn't they?" Izuku nodded but still seemed uneasy. Yagi looked outside wordlessly asking Aizawa to enter who in sight of Izuku used his quirk, showing that Izuku was safe. Both nodded thankfully to Aizawa. It was a half measure but at least it made sure that Izuku knew that Toga hadn't snuck in. There were also other protocols being used for the time being but it wasn't able to be done over the whole hospital due to the sheer number of people working there.

Yagi put a hand on Izukus shoulder, "My boy…perhaps you should look at seeing a therapist once you're able to move or if you like we could probably make arrangements for someone to come to you." He looked at his protégé with genuine concern and even some fear in his eyes. This young man that he had chosen to be the bearer of One for All had endured so much in such a short period of time. He saw the potential in this young man that seemed to show more with each challenge but also seemed to drive him closer to a kind of self-destruction.

Yagi looked at Izuku and gave him a small smile, "I'm…I'm alright. I just need to power through this. I can do it, I promise all I need is some time and.." Yagi saw the fact that Midoriya as holding back tears and he saw the twinges on the boys face, that look of frustration and the self loathing that he had been carrying for so many years. The young man continued "I just have to get over it. I know that if I'm strong enough I can deal with the problem and then.."

"Stop. Please stop right now." Yagis words were quiet but forceful as he looked down at Izuku. His tone was tired but also rather sad. "Needing therapy doesn't make you weak, and you aren't talking about a mild scare. You were abducted and tortured for an extended period by someone who also played games with your mind in addition to numerous other…unsavory actions against you." He sighed quietly, he had known other pro heroes, some of them friends, who had ended up having breakdowns or facing other disasters in their lives because they weren't willing to seek help either because of the feared stigma or because they thought that they didn't need it.

He sighed, for a few moments his eyes seemed to be looking at something far away. "Young Midoriya…you were there in my battle against All for One, you saw the amount of damage done. That was with both of us weakened, crippled.." Izuku nodded but he looked fairly confused. He wasn't sure how that related to what All Might had just said, but he listened as Toshinori continued.

"When I faced him…I want to say that I was facing him purely as the symbol of peace, that I was acting to bring a criminal to justice. That my focus was on removing someone who had preed on society for the sheer zeal to do what was right. In truth…the truth was that I wanted to annihilate him. He took away my mentor, the one who let me become a hero, the one who let me become the man I am now. When I faced him I didn't want to bring him in, I didn't want to capture him. I wanted to kill him, I wanted to destroy him. I wanted to annihilate him in every way possible and destroy all he had built. It wasn't just a matter of what he was, in terms of the monolith of crime and manipulation. It was that he had killed someone dear to me and I would not let her death sit unanswered."

Izuku stared, enraptured, he wasn't sure what Toshinori had meant in all of this as it didn't seem connected to what they had been speaking about before. But He listened, both wanting to hear what had happened but also because it felt like All Might was bringing him in deeper into his confidence with what he was telling him. Izuku looked at his mentor and saw that Yagis eyes seemed very far away suddenly. Izuku wasn't even fully sure at this point if the man was speaking to him directly or if he had sort of fallen into his own memories with this as he saw the faraway look n the eyes of the former symbol of peace.

"That battle…caution was attempted but it wasn't truly possible to be sure that no one else would be caught up in it. When we faced off it was more than a normal battle between men, even a battle between forces of nature. It was something darker and more terrible, it was two gods raging on the earth. I don't like to refer to myself as such but the kind of power that was being unleashed… Nature is apathetic, it neither has malice nor benevolence. When the two of us fought it was something darker. Primal rage and destruction a battle that had spent generations in culmination found its release. The desire to destroy one another, to annihilate one another, our strikes did not always find their mark and when beings of our power fought the surrounding devastation was horrific. They claimed the area we fought in had been the victim of a hurricane, and I imagine it may have looked or felt that way to anyone unlucky enough to see it." His voice seemed to have gotten smaller, almost introspective as he looked down, he looked at Midoriya who saw a solemn sorrow in the eyes of his mentor.

"My boy…I still remember that day. The horror of what I saw came after though. When I saw the devastation we had wrought, when I saw all of it I was affected more than I realized. I don't regret fighting him or what I did to him, but I will always carry the burden of the damage caused. The screams of the dead still echo, alive in my mind in my darker hours." He put a hand on his proteges wrist. "My point is that I still have echoes and terrors from my past as a hero, and I had them when I had more experience and training. I needed help and I had sought it for both mind and body, you doing the same is necessary for you to become the hero that we both know you can be."

Izuku nodded, tears in his eyes both from the stress of the situation and from All Mights words. He was uneasy and he was nervous, but he would do what his mentor had recommended. He closed his eyes again, hoping that eventually he might not face constant nightmares when he closed his eyes.


	12. Chapter 12: What Are You Thinking!

"You're an idiot, you know that right?" he spoke with an almost clinical detachment to the whole thing as if he was just mentioning weather or plans for the day. There was a general tone of disdain but for Bakugo that was more or less his standard in speech. He was talking to Ochako in one of the courtyards, they were away from most other observers and people that could see them would see a female student taking a male student to somewhere semi private most assumed the conversation would be something romantic instead of being about killing someone.

Ochako for her part just looked frustrated, "I'm not an idiot Bakugo, my plan should work I just need help. Some backup to deal with her so I don't get overwhelmed." Her hands shook slightly as she spoke, she hadn't slept well since the hospital. She had heard that Deku would probably need more time to be able to move around. She wanted to make it easier for him, wanted him to be able to feel safe. Wanted him..she steeled herself again and faced Bakugo anger in her eyes now. "We both know this needs to happen, she abducted Izuku and might go for others. I'd think of everyone you would want to get rid of them. Or did being captured make you afraid?"

His eyes narrowed but he actually barked out a laugh, "Ok, that was kind of amusing. I get that you're trying to goad me round face, but you really need to work harder on it." He looked to the side, tapping his fingers against a tree trunk. "Ok, let's see if you actually even thought any of this through. If you can answer every reason that I think this is idiotic and will end with you getting killed, I might consider helping," He saw her opening her mouth to object and put up a hand, "If you can convince me it's not dumb you should be able to convince me to help, start talking before I decide this is a fucking waste of time."

Ochako gritted her teeth, she hated how he was speaking but she also understood that in his own way he did care. He thought it was a bad idea but he hadn't just reported her talking to him about it. He seemed willing to listen, not to mention that things between him and Deku had improved at least a bit. She needed to convince him, otherwise she didn't have much chance and she thought that if anyone might understand it would be Katsuke.

She began, "She's still out there, I don't think she's going to go for Deku because she's someone that doesn't want to fight unless she's sure she can win. He has pro heroes guarding him. All I need to do is go out and walk around town, I can be bait for her since she still seems to want to get me. She comes at me, you jump in to help, we overwhelm that little bitch and then I make her pay for what she did to Deku!"

The volme and intensity of her voice had been rising as she spoke, Bakugo put up a hand, "Ok, where to fucking start here? Let's begin with the fact that you're voluntarily making yourself bait for a psycho bitch that can shapeshift. You're basically begging to be taken out and if she's gone from being starry eyed to seeing you as a rival for shitty Deku she might not try for a capture she might just fucking gut you." He tried to play off that he was just annoyed but this honestly disturbed him a bit. Sure she was a bit obsessed with Izuku but this level of self destructive stupidity…that green haired moron had infected her too.

She sighed in annoyance ticking off on her fingers, "One, you're going to be there too meaning that you should be able to notice anyone coming for me from an angle I miss. Two, from what she told Izuku I think she does want to capture me, either to do a repeat of what happened to Deku on me or she wants to pretend we're friends and tell me all about it." Her fists still shook a bit, she wasn't sure if it was the memories of what had happened at the training camp or the thoughts of what she had done to Izuku that bothered her more. Regardless it had started to settle more of her thoughts on the villain. "Three, even if she's planning to ambush me I know she's out there and she doesn't know I'm trying to trap her."

Bakugo sighed, "Alright, let's get into the idea of me being with you. Fine, I follow or stay above they sure as hell know what I look like. She was smart enough to set up an ambush that took out Deku and I'm sure she'd do the same with you. Or she fucking decides to take me out first because she notices me and decides, 'why the hell not?' Oh, also, since you said she can turn into you that means I get to have to try to take down both of you at once because we're not playing the 'shoot her' game I'm just dropping both. Not to mention that all of this acts like the bitch might not bring backup. Assuming that I get the drop on her, I have a bit of a rep as someone violent, so all she has to do is play the cute innocent girl being attacked by the aggressive psycho student and suddenly a nearby hero restrains me, or at least hesitates long enough for her to gut you, grab you, or get away."

Uraraka just sort of stared for a few moments, that was a decidedly more aggressive and disagreeable than she would have expected. The worst part though was that he had a bit of a point on at least some of that. There was a part of her that kept coming back to the fact that Bakugo of all people seemed to be pushing caution. She took a deep breath, "I think she'll be alone since she was keeping him for herself…and according to Izuku this was personal. I don't think she'll have backup coming after me. Also I think she's probably going to be mad at me, she had to…" She stopped speaking, she was trying to stay calm but an odd mixture of anger and despair filled her when she thought about it. She clenched her fists again and made herself focus.

"She used my face to torment him, she had to use me to get to him. And apparently she also used me as a…reward. If he did what she asked she would take on my shape, talk to him like me, I don't know if it was some sick fantasy of hers or what but.." She noticed the look on the ash blonde teens face as she said this, he looked disgusted but there was something else there instead.

"So Deku went along with that shit… what was…never mind I don't fucking want to know." He shook his head, annoyed that he even had the thoughts of what happened in his head. He was pissed at Deku, pissed at him for getting captured. Pissed at him for breaking, pissed that this happened and he might have been broken by the little blonde psychopath.

Uraraka looked angrily at him, "He went along with it to try to protect me, to protect all of us! I was there then he was getting interviewed, they had that boy who could brainwash people use his quirk on him. He told Deku to tell everything that he was thinking, that had happened. Some of it was…cloudy but the reason he did it was that he was afraid that if she got out she would hurt other people. He was really afraid for his mom and for me. He…he was afraid of her but he managed to lie to her. He told her that we had nicknames for each other that were just for us…something that would throw me if he said it. He was sure he was going to die and the last thing he did was to try to make it so that I would be safe."

Katsuke sighed, "And you haven't really answered any of my points about this being a bad idea. Alright, let's say that Deku was able to do all that, you realize that you're basically undoing it by dangling yourself in front of her to be killed right?" He rubbed the bridge of his nose, at this point he wanted to leave but he was sure if he did she would just talk herself into doing it alone. He respected her enough to know that she should be smarter than this. He was hoping that he could get her to realize she was being stupid, or at the very least someone else overhear this and put her under house arrest. He debated turning her in himself but to be honest he was sure if he did that it would just blow up in his face.

"You also got attacked by her when you had backup and pretty much lost. I'm good, I'm damn good, but she has to have decent reflexes. How do you deal with that?" He didn't know it but he almost looked like Aizawa as he asked her that. Looking vaguely annoyed at the person he was speaking to with a kind of smugness. Instead of discouraging her though she actually collected herself.

"She ambushed us during a time we didn't expect attack and we didn't know what she could do. We do know now and more importantly right now is the best time to do this. She's probably going to be trying to recover him or get me, if we wait she might cool down enough to be smarter about it and bring backup. I'm asking you to help me while she's still not thinking about it."

There was an opening if he had ever heard one "Oh, you mean like you right now? You're not fucking thinking about this. I get that you're pissed that she used your face to fuck with Deku but it's a hell of a lot more than that. And it's making you act like a damn idiot, I thought you had better sense!" His voice raised a bit but he managed to keep himself from devolving into just shouting at her. His voice had a sharp edge to it and she cringed a bit at what he said. Maybe she wasn't fully aware of the most likely reason she was doing it, and confronting her had a 50/50 chance of working but at this point he saw an opening and decided to push.

"You're pissed because of your crush on him. You're pissed at her because what she did to him, not just because he's your friend but because you're into him. Fucking fine. Be pissed, use it as motivation to get better, use it as motivation to do something useful. But don't fucking try to commit suicide by yandere bitch because you're pissed about what she did to the guy who was too chickenshit to tell you how he felt and you were too chickenshit to tell how you feel. You have ideas here but they keep assuming you can get the drop on her. I am a fucking better fighter than you are and the league captured me."

Ochako smacked him, hard, he was less surprised about the slap and more surprised she let him finish speaking. She glared. "She used my face to hurt him, used my face to play with his head. Used my face so now when he sees me he's thinking about her. If he knows she's gone, if she can't do anything I can be around him without worrying I'll send him into a panic attack! Maybe you don't actually care Bakugo, but I do! And Yes, fine, this is at least a bit about me. But it doesn't change the fact that my best friend," she wasn't going to admit out loud her feelings just yet even though what he said felt right enough to sting, "is going to be living in fear of me. He's getting help but if he knows that we got her, that we beat her maybe she'll feel less overwhelming maybe she'll feel less all powerful to him."

"Ok, great, I'm glad you're so worried about Deku. But you're being an even bigger self destructive idiot than he is about it.' He sighed "Not to mention that I'm not wrong, you're not fucking thinking clearly here. Also what if she does get you? Or both of us?" That last part almost choked out of him but he brought it up. He was the reason that All Might had had to burn up the last of his power in that battle, he was the reason that suddenly everything was resting on his or that damn nerds shoulders now.

Ochako paused, she looked suddenly unnerved, "Ok, you want a better reason. If she wants to hurt me she can look like me. My parents are targets. And I can't just stay hidden in the school forever, I have to leave at least some of the time. If she was this obsessed…"

Bakugo looked at her then nodded once, "Alright fine, come with me."

"What? You're going to help me take her out?"

"No, we're going to fucking get some more help and bring that up, that was the first actual point you made that I can't get around. Deals a deal, but we're not doing this half assed." She followed him looking surprised that he seemed to be moving with purpose, if she didn't know any better it almost seemed like he had a plan himself…

"Hey Katsuke..?"g

"What is it round face?"

"Were you planning to help me anyway?"

"Not important, just shut up and keep moving,"

She carefully hid her smile.


End file.
